GIFT  OF 


ARGEMONE   GRANDIFLORA.     Large-flowered  Mexican  Poppy, 


THE    GARDEN; 

It  ' 

OB 

„   FAMILIAR  INSTRUCTIONS 

FOR   THE 

LAYING  OUT  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  A  FLOWER  GARDEN. 


WITH 


ILLUSTRATIVE 


ON 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

B.    LIPPIJSTCOTT    &    CO 

1861. 


. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1834, 

BY  S.  G.   GOODRICH, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Edstrict  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 

THERE  is  no  pursuit  which  combines  in  a 
higher  degree  utility  and  pleasure  than  that 
of  gardening.  It  is  therefore  desirable  that 
young  persons  should  very  early  form  a  taste 
for  it.  If  in  childhood  they  have  their  atten- 
tion turned  to  it,  and  learn  the  names  of  flow- 
ers and  plants,  and  the  modes  of  cultivating 
them,  they  will  not  only  be  likely  to  relish 
the  pursuit  in  after  life,  but  they  will  gain  a 
kind  of  knowledge,  which  they  will  find  grati- 
fying as  well  as  profitable. 

This  work  is  designed  for  youth,  and  it  is 
hoped  it  may  be  the  means  of  drawing  some 

438937 


iv  PREFACE. 

of  them  into  a  taste  for  the  innocent  and 
cheerful  and  useful  pursuit  of  gardening.  It 
is  hoped  also  that  these  pages  may  serve  to 
communicate  some  valuable  and  pleasing 
knowledge  to  older  readers. 


CONTENTS. 
LETTER  I. 

JANUARY. 

Directions  for  laying  out  a  Flower  Garden. — Dutch 
gardens. — Turf  border. — South  wall,  and  South  border 
Climbers. — Arbour. — Designs  for  Centre  Bed. — Borders, 
nature  of  Soil  requisite,  Draining,  *  Compost. — American 
border. — Distance  at  which  American  shrubs  should  be 
planted ;  why  planted  in  bog  earth.— Different  plants 
used  for  edging  borders. — Instructions  for  Edging. — 
Gravel  Walks. — Distinction  between  Shrubs,  Annuals, 
&c. Page  15. 

LETTER  II. 

FEBRUARY. 

Edging  to  borders. — Hints  for  planting  Herbaceous 
Plants,  as  to  height,  colour  and  time  of  flowering. — 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Distance  to  be  observed  between  roots  and  patches  of 
seed.  Tools  most  necessary  for  a  young  gardener. — 
Evergreens,  and  their  treatment. — Eoots  of  Flowering 
Shrubs. — Pruning. — Turf. — Instructions  for  sowing  Au- 
ricula and  Polyanthus  seeds,  and  Hardy  Annuals. — 
Marking  Sticks Page  35. 

LETTER  III. 

MARCH. 

Succession  bed. — Bed  of  Scarlet  Anemonies  and  Pur- 
ple Orchises. — Advice  as  to  Florists'  flowers. — How  to 
make  border  for  Ranunculuses. — Garden  made  gay  by 
Annuals. — Method  of  raising  Half-hardy  Annuals. — 
Those  to  be  sown  at  the  end  of  the  month. — Seed  bed 
for  Perennials  and  Biennials. — Size  of  plants. — Ameri- 
can shrubs  and  evergreens  to  be  transplanted. — Rose- 
trees  Page  47. 

LETTER  IV. 

APRIL. 

Dreariness  of  the  garden  at  this  season. — Flowers  in 
bloom  — Change  produced  in  habits  of  plants  by  climate. 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

— Dividing  herbaceous  plants. — Annuals  to  be  sown  in 
April. — Plant  out,  or  pot,  Half-hardy  Annuals. — Method. 
— Flowers  in  bloom  during  the  month. — Edging,  of 
Hearts-ease. — Rockwork. — Tie  up  and  protect  Hyacinths 
and  Tulips. — Cheap  awning  for  them. — Reasons  why 
plants  require  light. — Tender  Annuals  to  be  sown. — 
Raise  Balm  of  Gilead  and  Verbena. — Directions  for 
growing  the  common  sorts  of  Carnations  Page  58. 

LETTER  V. 

MAY. 

Basket  sent. — Contents. — Roots  of  Dahlias,  &c.  pre- 
served during  winter,  to  be  planted  and  propagated. — 
New  Annuals. — Green-house  plants  to  be  put  in  warm 
border. — Cuttings  to  be  made  of  plants  sent. — Cheiran- 
thus  Tristis  and  other  plants  scentless  during  the  day. — 
Directions  for  making  and  striking  cuttings  of  different 
plants. — Flowers  in  bloom  during  the  month. — Plant 
Indian  Pinks,  Stocks,  and  tender  Annuals. — Shade  and 
water  them. — Sow  Half-hardy  Annuals. — Work  to  be 
done  during  the  month  ....  Page  75. 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

LETTER  VI. 

JUNE. 

Neatness  of  the  Dutch. — Hand  weeding. — Hoeing. — 
Raking. — Tying  up  herbaceous  plants. — Sticking  them. 
— Take  up  Bulbs  to  dry. — Reason  why  they  should  be 
taken  up ;  leaves  not  to  be  injured. — Directions  for  strik- 
ing Pink  pipings,  cuttings  of  China,  Moss,  and  other 
Roses. — Carnation  cuttings,  and  slips  of  different  plants, 
how  to  make. — Keep  Garden  neat. — Plant  Perennials  and 
Biennials  in  beds. — Plant  bulbs  of  Bella  Donna,  Guern- 
sey Lily,  and  Colchicum,  &c. — Make  cuttings  of  Green- 
house plants. — Propagate  Chrysanthemums. — Instruc- 
tions for  making  Flower  Baskets,  Ornamental  Vases  and 
Tables. — Clip  Edgings  and  Weed  Gravel. — Tie  up  Car- 
nations and  Pink  plants  and  their  pods. — Flowers  in 
bloom  — Sow  Brompton  Stock  Seed,  for  the  next  year 

Page  92. 

LETTER  VII. 

JULY. 

Fruits  of  industry. — Gardening  considered  as  a  ration- 
al amusement. — On  order. — Flowers  in  bloom  during  the 


CONTENTS.  iX 

month. — How  to  make  layers  of  Carnations. — Reason 
why  so  made. — May  be  raised  by  Pipings. — Varieties  of 
Carnations. — Work  to  be  done  in  Garden. — Gather 
Seeds,  and  dry  them. — How  to  make  a  descriptive  Cata- 
logue of  Carnations. — To  raise  cuttings  of  Green-house 
plants  and  others. — Seedling  Pinks. — On  Watering. — 
Take  up  Bulbous  Roots. — Tree  Roses. — Method  of  bud- 
ding Rose  Stocks Page  115 

LETTER  VIII. 

AUGUST. 

The  Tree  Carnation. — Strike  cuttings  of  it. — Poor 
persons  fond  of  flowers. — Artisans  great  Florists. — Dis- 
tinction between  Gardeners,  Florists,  and  Botanists-;  of- 
ten confounded. — Botany ;  its  advantages.-  -Continue  to 
lay  Carnations. — Treatment  of  those  potted. — Lay  Indian 
Pinks. — Reason  why  weak  plants  require  shading,  and 
air  is  excluded  from  cuttings. — Raise  bulbous  roots  from 
seed. — Ferraria  tigridia. — Divide  Herbaceous  plants. — 
Transplant  Seedling  Biennials,  &c. — Shade  newly  plant- 
ed Seedlings. — Sow  Mignonette  in  pots. — Divide  Rock 
plants. — Plants  in  flower. — Lobelias ;  easily  propagated 

Page  132 


X  CONTENTS. 

LETTER  IX. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Carnations. — Transplant  Pink  Pipings,  if  rooted. — Di- 
rections for  making  Box  edgings. — Collecting  Seeds. — 
Plant  out  and  pot  Brompton  Stocks. — American  Border. 
— Prepare  Turf  for  use. — Plants  in  flower. — Russian  Vi- 
olets.— Carnations;  how  prevented  from  bursting. — An 
old  tree  made  ornamental. — Use  of  Latin  names  in  Bo- 
tany .......  Page  153. 

LETTER  X. 

OCTOBER. 

In-door  amusements  more  fitted  to  the  winter  season 
than  gardening. — Prepare  Bulb  bed ;  how  to  plant  it. — 
Narcissus  planted  under  a  wall. — Treatment  of  Bulbs 
which  are  to  blow  in  pots. — Reasons  for  such  treatment. 
— Bulbous  plants  natives  of  dry  climates. — Sand  put  to 
drain  the  roots. — Planting  Tulips  and  Anemonies. — Take 
up  Green-house  plants. — Object  of  Cold  Frames. — Clear- 
ing borders,  and  dividing  herbaceous  roots. — Prune  flow- 
er shrubs,  and  put  sticks  to  them. — Care  to  be  observed 
in  pruning  shrubs  to  be  transplanted. — Plants  in  bloom 
during  the  month  ....  Page  163. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

LETTER  XL 

NOVEMBER. 

Dig  up  borders,  and  trim  roots. — Prune  shrubs ;  clean 
sticks. — Take  off  suckers. — Dig  in  dead  leaves  or  rotten 
dung. — Plant  Tulips  and  Ranunculuses ;  protect  them 
from  frost  and  heavy  rains. — Collect  leaves. — Sweep  and 
roll  gravel  walks. — Attend  to  Carnation  beds,  and  Alpine 
plants. — Bodies  which  retain  heat  longest. — Effect  of  cold 
without  snow,  on  Alpine  .plants. — Snow  preserves  plants 
in  Alpine  regions. — Alpine  and  American  Springs  com- 
pared.— Cold  frame  a  substitute  for  snow. — Plant  Alpine 
plants  in  dry  situations. — Take  up  Dahlia  roots,  &c. — 
Plants  in  bloom Page  178. 

LETTER  XII. 

DECEMBER. 

Vegetable  physiology  attempted  to  be  defined ;  its  im- 
portance as  a  science. — Gardening  leads  to  love  of  or- 
der and  neatness. — Distinguished  men  have  been  fond  of 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


gardening. — Sweep  and  roll  during  the  whole  winter. — 
Attend  to  the  frames,  and  prevent  the  plants  in  them  from 
growing  too  freely. — Conclusion  .  .  Page  192 


THE  GARDEN. 


LETTER  I. 

January. 

YOUR  request  that  I  should  send  you  a 
monthly  journal  of  my  garden,  and  give  in- 
structions for  the  laying  out  and  management 
of  your  own,  gave  me  great  pleasure.  I  shall 
indeed  be  happy  to  give  you  all  the  information 
I  possess.  My  garden  still  continues  a  favour- 
ite amusement  and  occupation.  As  the  season 
is  not  yet  sufficiently  advanced  to  make  a  mere 
journal  interesting,  I  intend  to  devote  this  and 
the  two  following  letters  to  the  instructions  ne  - 
?essary  for  the  formation  of  the  garden,  and  to 


16  LAYING  OUT  [JAIN. 

give  you  the  result  of  all  my  experience  on  the 
subject.  From  my  recollections  of  the  shrub- 
beries of ,  and  from  your  description,  I 

know  exactly  where  the  plot  of  ground  allotted 
to  you  is  situated.  It  is  an  oblong  square  piece, 
surrounded  on  two  sides  by  the  kitchen  garden 
wall  and  the  paling  of  the  orchard,  and,  on  the 
other  two,  by  the  nursery,  which  is  irregular 
on  the  longest  side  opposite  the  wall.  It  is  a 
delightful  spot,  and  so  well  sheltered,  that  the 
tenderest  of  our  out-door  plants  will  live  and 
thrive  there.  I  rejoice  that  it  is  quite  shut  out 
from  the  rest  of  the  garden,  as  this  will  enable 
you  to  give  it  a  character  as  a  whole,  without 
its  being  interfered  with  by  the  arrangements  of 
your  neighbours.  I  think,  that  as  three  sides 
of  it  are  perfectly  straight,  the  fourth  should  be 
made  straight  also,  and  then  laid  out  in  formal 
>eds,  in  the  Dutch  style,  which  is  an  excellent 


THE  FLOWER  GARDEN.  17 

plan  where  there  is  but  little  space,  and  flowers 
only  are  intended  to  be"  cultivated;  for  though 
this  method  of  laying  out  a  garden  supposes 
the  intention  of  making  each  bed  contain  only 
one  kind  of  flowers,  yet  I  consider  that  it 
may  be  equally  adapted  to  a  mixed  flower 
garden. 

Notwithstanding  what  I  have  stated,  I  am  well 
aware  of  the  beauty  of  the  wild  and  irregular 
in  the  arrangement  of  pleasure  grounds ;  but 
this,  to  produce  a  good  effect,  requires  space ; 
and,  to  be  really  beautiful,  there  should  Ijjj 
inequality  of  surface,  and  the  power  of  produc- 
ing a  variety  of  form  without  confusion.  It  is 
indispensable,  also,  that  the  whole  plan  should 
not  be  seen  at  once,  but  this,  with  your  little 
nook,  you  cannot  hope  to  accomplish ;  I  recom- 
mend you,  therefore,  to  content  yourself  with 
neatness  and  regularity ;  conceiving  your  main 
2  B 


18  ARRANGEMENT  OF  BORDERS.  [JAN. 

object  is  to  have  as  much  room  to  show  off  the 
flowers  as  possible. 

Now  for  the  rules  as  to  the  making  the  gar- 
den— the  irregular  piece,  which  you  take  off  to 
make  the  parallelogram,  or  oblong  square,  may 
be  planted  with  our  own  American  shrubs  ; 
these,  you  will  observe,  grow  well  in  the  shade, 
and  will  not  be  injured  by  being  close  to  the 
plantations.  As  soon  as  you  have  given  the 
ground  a  regular  form,  make  a  border  three 
feet  wide  in  front  of  the  wall,  which  I  propose 

C,  should  cover  with  creepers,  and  such 
itiful  flowering  shrubs  as,  in  this  climate, 
require  to  be  grown  against  a  wall  for  protec- 
tion ;  and  I  think,  as  show  is  your  object,  you 
will  not  mind  sacrificing  the  two  old  peach 
trees,  which  cover  it  at  present.  This  wall 
being  towards  the  south,  renders  it  invaluable. 
However  bare  and  ugly  it  may  appear  at  pre- 


FURNISHING  THE  BORDERS.  19 


sent,  you  will  be  content  when  it  is  covered 
the  flowers  of  the  Bignonia  radicans,  or  trum- 
pet flower,  the  jasmine,  Zinnia,  a  beautiful 
flower,  the  Calycanthus  precox,  or  scented  all- 
spice, (which  blows  in  the  middle  of  the  winter, 
and  is  so  fragrant,  that  a  single  blossom  is  suffi- 
cient to  perfume  a  whole  room,)  the  mule  and 
common  passion  flowers;  and  many  others  that 
I  can  name  to  you. 

After  planting  the  shrubs,  which  are  to  grow 
against  the  wall,  the  remainder  of  the  border 
must  be  devoted  to  such  delicate  plants  as  re- 
quire a  warm  situation,  particularly  to  tender 
bulbs,  of  which  there  are  many  —  but  more  of 
these  hereafter. 

Let  a  wide  border  be  made  under  the  un- 

,  sightly  paling  which  you  dislike  so  much  ;  this, 

when  covered  with  clematis  honeysuckles,  Vir- 

ginian creeper,  &c.,  and  the  border  filled  with 


20  THE  ARBOUR.  [JAN. 

roses  and  shrubs,  you  will  not  be  displeased 
with,  but  like  it,  I  hope,  as  much  as  the  sides 
next  to  the  shrubbery. 

Having  now  disposed  of  the  appearances  in 
your  garden  with  which  you  are  dissatisfied, 
and  directed  you  to  make  a  border  round  three 
sides  of  it,  I  proceed  to  the  fourth.  I  remem- 
ber, you  enter  through  the  shrubbery  on  that 
side.  At  first,  I  hardly  knew  what  to  propose 
that  you  should  do  with  it,  because  the  trees 
that  bound  it  are  so  large,  that  a  border  under 
them  would  be  of  little  use ;  till  I  recollected 
the  pleasure  we  all  enjoyed,  two  years  ago,  in 
building  an  arbour,  and  my  promise  of  making 
you  a  copy  of  the  drawing  my  eldest  sister 
made  of  us  whilst  at  our  work,  (which  I  will 
send  in  my  next  letter.)  Our  arbour  is  now 
covered  with  creepers,  the  shrubs  are  grown 
large,  and  I  have  so  much  pleasure  in  seeing 


THE  ARBOUR.  21 

my  sisters,  when  the  weather  is  fine,  bring  their 
work  or  books,  to  amuse  themselves  in  it  while 
I  am  employed  in  my  garden,  that  I  strongly 
advise  you  to  build  one  on  that  side,  as  near  the 
trees  as  possible  ;  particularly,  as  by  planting  a 
few  evergreens  round  the  seat,  with  some 
woodbines  and  trailing  roses  at  the  foot  of  the 
trees,  you  will  soon  have  an  arbour  there. 
When  I  hear  your  determination  on  this  point, 
I  shall  send  plans  and  instructions  for  making 
this  most  useful  ornament  to  your  garden. 

Thus,  we  have  disposed  of  all  the  outside 
parts  as  follows : — first,  the  turf  border,  for  the 
American  shrubs ; — secondly,  the  ugly  paling 
mantled  over  with  creepers,  morning  glory, 
roses,  &LC. ; — thirdly,  the  south  wall,  covered 
.  with  the  more  delicate  and  rare  plants ;  and, 
lastly,  on  the  shaded  side,  an  arbour. 

The  middle  of  the  garden,  which  is  the  most 


22  DESIGNS  FOR  THE  CENTRE  BED.        [JAN. 

difficult  to  arrange,  is  next  to  be  considered.  I 
am  somewhat  at  a  loss  what  to  recommend  you 
to  take  for  a  centre :  I  think  either  an  oval  or  a 
lozenge,  with  little  beds  arranged  round  it,  cor- 
responding with  its  shape,  best  suited  to  a  small 
garden;  but  I  have  lately  seen  one  so  very 
pretty,  that  I  must  describe  it.  The  centre 
was  in  the  form  of  a  Maltese  cross,  round  which 
a  continuation  of  narrow  beds,  divided  by  walks, 
were  placed  ;  they  continued  the  same  pattern, 
the  whole  still  forming  the  Maltese  cross. 

The  best  thing  you  can  do,  will  be  to  draw 
on  paper  several  designs,  and  then  choose  that 
which  you  like  best,  and  think  most  suited  to 
the  situation ;  I  have  attempted  to  assist  you  in 
this,  and  send  you  two  patterns.  The  dark 
parts  are  intended  to  represent  the  beds,  and 
the  white  the  gravel  walks.  I  think  I  should 
recommend  No.  1,  as  it  will  suit  the  shape  of 


LAYING  OUT   THE    GROUND. 


23 


your  garden  better  than  the  Maltese  cross  ;  be- 
sides, the  latter,  to  have  a  very  good  effect, 
should  fre  cut  out  (Jn  a  lawn,  or,  at  least,  there 
should  be  grass  walks.  After  you  have  deter- 
mined on  your  plan,  mark  out  the  borders  with 

No.  1. 


sticks,  taking  care  that  the  smallest  is  at  least 
two  feet  wide.  The  making  these  must  be 
next  attended  to ;  and  this  must  be  done  with 
great  care  and  patience,  or  the  labour  of  plant- 
*  ing  will  be  lost.  As  much  depends  on  the 
soil,  examine  well  the  nature  of  yours :  if  it 
Crumbles  easily,  and  appears  sandy,  you  need 


24  EXAMINATION  OP  SOIL.  [JAN. 

only  dig  and  enrich  it  with  decayed  leaves ;  but 
if  you  have  a  clayey  soil  to  contend  with,  as  I 
have  in  my  garden,  you  must  dig  out  the  earth 
to  the  depth  of  two  feet,  and  put  in  a  layer  of 
brick  rubbish,  or  coarse  gravel  and  stones,  the 
use  of  which  is  to  drain  off  the  water  when 
there  is  much  wet :  this  is  quite  necessary ; 
therefore  do  not  omit  to  do  so,  or  you  will 
probably  lose  the  best  plants  in  the  winter: 
this  happened  to  me,  because  I  was  too  impa- 
tient to  make  my  garden,  and  had  no  one  to 
give  me  advice  about  it.  You,  of  course,  know, 
that  most  of  the  plants  grown  in  our  gardens 
come  from  foreign  countries,  from  countries  that 
are  warmer  than  New  England,  and  particularly 
from  places  where  there  is  less  rain  and  snow. 
If,  during  the  winter,  when  the  plants  are  in  a 
dormant  state,  the  roots  are  too  much  soaked 
with  wet,  they  get  mouldy,  and  rot,  they  are 


SOIL   FOR  AMERICAN  PLANTS.  25 

also  more  liable  to  be  injured  when  it  freezes, 
by  the  water  which  is  in  the  root,  becoming  ice. 

This  draining  of  the  borders  is,  therefore,  the 
first  thing  to  be  considered ;   after  which,  fill ' 
them  with  a  mixture  of  light  loam,  sand,  and 
bog-earth,  if  you  have  it  in  sufficient  quantity ; 
if  not,  you  must  be  contented  with  the  loam,^ 
some  sand,  and  a  very  small  quantity  of  rotten 
leaves ;  you  should  let  the  borders  remain  un- 
touched a  few  days,  to  allow  the  loose  earth  to 
settle,  or  sink  down,  before  you  plant  the  roots, 
&c. 

As  to  the  border  for  American  plants,  the  soil 
should  be  entirely  sandy  or  bog  earth.  As 
rhododendrons,  the  magnolia  glanca,  azaleas, 
and  laurels,  grow  large,  they  should  be  planted 
£t  the  back  of  the  border,  and  not  too  closely 
together.  I  should  say  that  rhododendrons 
should  be  at  least  five  feet  apart,  or  they  will 
C 


26  AMERICAN  PLANTS.  [JAN. 

soon  become  crowded,  and  spoil  each  other: 
this  crowding  is  the  great  mistake  of  all  young 
gardeners.  Always  bear  in  mind,  that  in  plant- 
ing you  must  have  "  a  prophetic  eye,"  and 
look  at  what  the  garden  will  be,  rather  than 
\vhat  it  is.  The  reason  why  the  shrubs  I  have 
named  are  planted  in  bog  earth  is,  because  it  is 
their  natural  soil, — the  ground  they  grow  in 
when  wild.  You  will  see  that  their  roots  are 
composed  of  a  number  of  little  fibres,  not  much 
thicker  than  hairs :  peat  soil  being  sandy,  loose, 
and  not  clinging,  and  stiff  like  clay,  is  therefore 
best  suited  for  their  small  roots  to  wander  about 
in,  and  to  collect  nourishment  from  the  earth ; 
for,  you  may  well  suppose,  that  if  they  were 
planted  in  a  clayey  sort  of  earth,  their  fine  roots 
could  not  penetrate  through  so  stiff  a  mass. 

As  I  have  made  it  a  point  that  you  should  not 
plant  your  shrubs  too  close,  you  may  think  the 


EDGINGS  FOR  BORDERS.  27 

spaces  between  them  will  look  bare  and  unfi- 
nished ;  in  which  case  they  may  be  filled  up,  in 
the  spring,  with  stocks  or  other  annuals  or  bien- 
nials. The  coreopsis,  or  tick-seed  sun  flower, 
is  a  very  showy  plant,  and  will  look  well  among 
your  shrubs — the  species  tinctoria,  native  of 
-Arkansaw,  is  very  beautiful. 

When  the  borders  are  filled,  they  should  be 
edged,  before  you.  set  about  making  the  walks. 
Dutch  box  is  the  best  plant  to  use  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  though  daisies,  London  pride,  grass  pinks, 
violets,  and  dwarf  periwinkle,  make  a  pretty 
edging,  yet  some  of  these  lose  their  leaves,  and 
some  grow  too  rapidly  for  a  small  garden.  The 
edging  should  be  put  down  with  great  care. 
Nothing  makes  a  garden  appear  more  untidy 
'  than  crooked  lines ;  therefore  do  not  spare  your 
labour ;  and,  to  ensure  the  lines  being  straight, 
make  use  of  a  string,  fastened  to  two  sticks, 


28  GRAVEL   WALKS.  [JAN. 

stretched  along  the  part  you  intend  to  plant. 
To  make  your  walks,  (which  should  be  of 
gravel,)  you  must  dig  out  of  the  earth,  and  this, 
if  it  be  good  for  any  thing,  strew  on  the  borders, 
to  make  them  higher  than  the  walks.  They 
should  be  shelving  on  each  side,  to  enable  the 
water  to  run  off.  At  the  bottom  of  the  walk,  put 
about  six  inches  of  brick  rubbish,  and  on  this 
about  six  inches  of  gravel,  throwing  the  coarser 
kind  at  the  bottom.  You  will  observe,  that  the 
drain  to  the  walks  will  also  serve  as  a  drain  to 
the  borders,  unless  your  soil,  as  I  said  before, 
be  very  clayey.  After  laying  a  coating  of  fine 
gravel  at  the  top,  and  making  the  walks  a  little 
rounded,  to  allow  the  water  to  flow  to  the  sides, 
they  should  be  rolled.  I  ought  to  have  told 
you  before  to  make  them  wide  enough  to  admit 
the  roller,  or  you  will  not  like  their  appearance 
in  wet  weather.  I  tell  you  much  of  what  the 


PLEASURE   IN  GARDENING.  29 

gardener  will  perhaps  assist  you  in ;  but  I  think 
it  right  that  you  should  know  the  reasons  why 
these  things  are  done,  in  order  to  see  that  they 
are  well  done;  besides,  I  hope  you  will  find 
amusement  in  learning  all  these  details.  There 
are  very  few  ready-made  pleasures.  I  am  sure 
my  sisters  feel  far  more  delight  in  the  nose- 
gays they  gather  out  of  their  own  garden,  with 
which  they  decorate  the  school-room,  than  the 
rich  Miss  Marsdens  do  in  the  magnificent  pro- 
ductions of  their  papa's  hot-houses.  The  gar- 
dener brings  into  their  drawing-room  the  fine 
amaryllis,  passion-flowers,  and  cactus,  which 
he  has  raised  with  much  trouble  and  at  such 
cost ;  and  after  the  young  ladies  have  stared 
at  them,  wondered  if  they  smell,  and  learned 
their  price,  they  are  thrown  awray,  or  forgotten. 
My  sister  Jane  has  long  cultivated  her  garden 
with  great  care :  she  knows  the  names,  habits, 


30  DIFFERENT   KINDS  OF    PLANTS.          [JAN. 

and  method  of  treating  and  raising  all  kinds  of 
flowers  ;  and,  remembering  the  trouble  she  has 
had  with  them,  likes  them  the  more.  She  has 
undertaken  the  management  of  the  flower  gar- 
den, which,  owing  to  my  mother's  delicate  state 
of  health,  was  much  neglected  last  year ;  and  I 
am  enabled  now,  through  her  kindness,  to  send 
you  a  larger  basket  of  roots,  &c.  than  my  own 
garden  would  have  afforded.  It  contains  some 
very  good  shrubs,  herbaceous  roots,  creepers, 
and  seeds  of  annuals. 

Before  I  tell  you  what  to  do  writh  the  plants 
I  send,  as  you  are  quite  a  beginner,  I  had  better 
explain  the  difference  between  shrubs,  herba- 
ceous plants,  biennials,  and  annuals. 

The  shrub  is,  in  general,  a  low,  woody, 
branching  plant.  Such  are  the  rose,  jasmine, 
rhododendron,  lilac,  honeysuckle,  &,c. ;  though 
there  are  many  which  grow  to  a  great  size,  as 
the  acacia,  fee.  These  are  again  divided  into 


FLOWERING   SHRUBS.  31 

evergreen:  such  are  the  laurels  and  kalmias ;  and 
deciduous,  or  those,  of  which  the  leaves  fall  off 
in  the  winter,  and  the  stem  survives ;  as,  for 
instance,  the  lilac  and  laburnum.  All  these  are 
propagated  either  by  layers,  cuttings,  or  suck- 
ers, and  sometimes  by  seeds. 

The  root  only  of  the  herbaceous  plant  lives 
through  the  winter;  the  flower  stem  dies  as 
soon  as  it  has  performed  its  duty,  and  is  repro- 
duced in  the  spring ;  such  are  the  campanula, 
or  bell  flower,  the  sweet-william,  and  many 
others;  and  these  are  generally  increased  by 
dividing  the  roots,  sometimes  also  by  seeds  and 
cuttings. 

The  biennial  is  a  plant  usually  grown  from 
seed,  requiring,  however,  two  years  before  it 
arrives  at  perfection  and  produces  flowers,  after 
which  it  dwindles  away,  and  dies.  Canterbury 
bells,  foxgloves,  &.c.  are  biennials. 


32  FLOWERING  SHRUBS.  [JAN. 

The  name  of  an  annual,  denotes  the  short- 
ness of  its  life :  sweet  peas,  larkspurs,  migno- 
nette, poppies,  &c.,  are  annuals ;  they  are  all 
raised  from  seed,  though  many  of  the  scarcer 
sorts  might  be  grown  from  cuttings.  As  for  the 
creepers,  they  are  for  the  most  part  deciduous 
shrubs,  requiring  the  support  of  sticks,  or  trel- 
lis ;  many  annuals,  as  Convolvulus  major,  re- 
quire the  like  support. 

To  return  to  the  basket.  It  contains  a  plant 
of  Jasminum  revolytum,  the  flowers  of  which 
are  yellowr,  large,  and  very  fragrant ;  Clematis 
Florida,  whose  dirty  white  flowers  appear  at  a 
distance  like  the  passion-fkwer ;  and  the  scarlet 
flowered  Pyrus  Japonica.  These  are  to  be 
planted  at  the  foot  of  your  wall,  and  trained 
against  it.  I  have  sent  them  in  pots,  that  you 
may  wait  till  the  season  is  more  advanced,  be- 
fore you  plant  them  out,  You  may  plant,  to 


FLOWERING    SHRUBS.  33 

run  up  a  pole  of  your  intended  arbour,  Peri- 
ploca  Grceca  follicle  vine,  which  is  an  elegant, 
though  not  very  showy  climber.  For  the  pal- 
ing, I  send  plants  of  Corchorus  Japonica,  which 
will  do  well  against  it,  and  its  bright  yellow 
flowers  will  repay  you  soon  for  the  trouble  of 
planting,  as  they  make  their  appearance  very 
early.  It  is  a  native  of  China ;  and,  though  it 
stands  the  cold  of  our  winter,  it  thrives  best  in 
a  sheltered  situation,  particularly  as  it  blossoms 
when  the  weather  is  very  unfavourable.  The 
Virginian  creeper  grows  very  fast ;  its  principal 
beauty,  however,  is  the  bright  scarlet  hue  of  its 
leaves  in  the  autumn.  Among  the  prettiest 
American  shrubs  I  can  offer  you,  are  the  rhodo- 
dendron, andromeda,  the  odoriferous  kind,  and 
'kalmia.  Plant  in  the  rose  and  shrub  border,  the 
winter  berry-tree,  which  is  so  called,  because, 
in  the  winter,  it  is  covered  with  bright  scarlet 
3 


34  FLOWERING    SHRUBS.  [JAN 

berries : — this,  I  think,  you  will  consider  a  very 
pretty  shrub,  and  it  helps  well  to  make  out  a 
winter  nosegay.  Besides  these,  you  will  find 
in  the  basket,  many  common  herbaceous  plants 
for  the  other  border;  but  as  the  names  are 
marked  on  all,  I  must  refer  you  to  the  gar- 
dener, if  you  require  any  particulars  as  to  plant- 
ing. In  my  next,  I  will  give  the  necessary 
directions  for  sowing  the  seeds  of  annuals,  and 
answer  any  inquiries  you  may  make ;  as  I  shall 
expect  to  hear  of  the  safe  arrival  of  the  basket. 

Ever  your  sincere  friend, 

G 


ARRANGEMENT  OF  PLANTS.  35 


LETTER  II. 

February. 

IN  planting  shrubs  and  herbaceous  roots, 
and  in  sowing  patches  of  seeds,  I  must  request 
you  to  pay  great  attention,  first,  as  to  the  height 
they  will  attain  when  in  flower ;  arranging  them 
so  that  the  dwarf  sorts  may  be  in  front,  and  the 
taller  at  the  back. 

My  beds  usually  consist  of  three  or  four  rows 
of  plants,  each  row  nine  inches  apart:— in  the 
front  are  planted  pinks,  violets,  hepaticas,  prim- 
roses, varieties  of  cowslip  and  oxlip,  snowdrops, 
and  crocuses ;  in  the  next  are  stocks,  sweet- 
williams,  some  sorts  of  campanulas,  and  peonies, 
&,c. ;  in  the  back  rows,  scarlet  lychnis,  poppies, 
monks-hood,  splendid  sage,  and  other  tall  grow- 
ing plants. 


FEBRUAR\. 


BUILDING   THE   AEBOUR. 


PLACING  FLOWERING   ROOTS.  37 

Secondly,  the  colour  of  the  flowers  should  be 
well  considered,  and  great  care  taken  to  avoid 
placing  two  plants,  whose  flowers  are  of  the 
same  hue,  together. 

Thirdly,  the  time  of  their  flowering  should 
be  attended  to,  and,  in  a  mingled  flower  gar- 
den, contrive  so  to  scatter  them  about,  as  to 
prevent  one  part  of  your  border  appearing 
without  blossoms,  while  the  rest  is  brilliant 
from  the  number  of  plants  in  bloom  in  it.  All 
this  cannot  be  managed  in  one  year.  Nothing 
but  a  little  experience,  and  some  care,  will 
enable  you  to  attain  any  thing  like  perfection 
in  the  arrangement  of  plants,  as  to  size,  colour, 
and  time  of  flowering.  The  roots,  or  patches 
of  seed,  must  be  placed  at  distances  equal  to 
the  space  between  the  rows,  namely,  about 
nine  inches;  the  plants  are  not  to  be  placed 
immediately  behind  each  other,  but  exactly 


38  EVERGREEN    SHRUBS.  [PFB. 

half  way  betwixt,  to  allow  oLall  being  seen. 
But  should  there  be  a  walk  entirely  round  the 
bed,  then  the  tallest  plants,  of  course,  must  be 
placed  in  the  centre. 

Hitherto,  I  have  said  nothing  about  garden 
tools.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  you  to  have 
a  small  strong  spade,  a  rake,  a  trowel,  a  water- 
ing-pot, a  hoe,  a  birch  broom,  and  a  wheelbar- 
row of  your  own,  in  order  that  you  may  not  be 
perpetually  borrowing  tools  from  the  gardener, 
which  are,  besides,  too  heavy  for  you  to  use 
with  pleasure.  These  you  may  buy  by  degrees ; 
beginning  with  the  three  first,  as  being  the 
most  wanted. 

I  should  recommend  you  to  plant,  about  the 
middle  of  the  next  month,  a  few  evergreen 
shrubs,  such  as  rhododendrons,  balsam  fir,  holly, 
and  laurel,  round  the  place  where  you  intend  to 
build  your  seat,  or  summer-house.  These  are 


FLOWERING    SHRUBS.  39 

all  the  shrubs  of  this  description  that  I  should 
think  desirable  for  a  small  garden ;  and  I  must 
caution  you  against  placing  any  one  of  them  in 
the  middle  of  the  flower  beds,  as  is  usually 
done  by  young  gardeners,  who  are  not  aware 
how  soon  they  grow  too  large  for  the  place  in 
which  they  are  planted,  and  shade  the  border ; 
besides,  in  the  summer,  they  have  a  very  ugly, 
dingy  look. 

The  only  time  at  which  evergreens  appear 
to  advantage  is  during  the  winter:  even  then 
they  should  be  planted  in  large  masses,  and 
your  garden  is  too  small  to  allow  of  this  being 
done. 

Flowering  shrubs,  which  have  grown  too 
luxuriant  or  straggling,  should  be  cut  and  tied 
up,  their  suckers  taken  away,  (which  may  be 
planted  where  they  are  most  wanted,  to  fill  up 
vacant  spaces,)  and  the  earth  should  be  dug 


40  PRUNING.  [FEB. 

neatly  about  their  roots.  If,  however,  the  shrubs 
are  in  a  bed,  in  which  there  are  herbaceous 
roots,  it  is  better  to  use  a  fork  than  a  spade,  as 
it  is  less  likely  to  injure  the  roots  that  have  net 
yet  appeared  above  ground. 

You  will  find  the  new  plants  require  pruning 
in  a  short  time,  particularly  those  which  are  of 
quick  growth ;  on  this  point,  perhaps,  it  will  be 
better  to  consult  the  gardener.  I  doubt  wheth- 
er I  could  give  you  any  good  general  rules  for 
managing  this  part  of  the  gardener's  art:  for 
there  are  some  trees  which  do  not  bear  pruning 
at  all,  such  as  the  fir,  larch,  cypress,  and  cedar 
tribe  ;  and  on  some  plants  the  buds,  which  are 
in  the  spring  to  produce  flowers,  are  formed  on 
the  old  wood,  as  the  shoots  of  the  preceding 
year  are  called ;  such  are  the  double-blossomed 
peach,  the  syririga,  &c. ;  and  thus  you  must  be 
careful  what  you  cut  away. 


LAYING   TURF.  41 

In  general,  the  best  plan  is  to  cut  off  all  the 
straggling  shoots,  and  to  shorten  them  to  about 
half  the  length  you  wish  the  plant  to  grow  ;  as, 
whenever  a  tree  has  been  cut,  it  will  shoot  out 
with  greater  vigour,  provided  it  be  in  health; 
indeed,  cutting  a  shrub  entirely  down  is  often 
resorted  to,  with  success,  when  it  appears  to 
be  dying,  after  all  other  means  have  failed  to 
restore  it  to  health. 

Besides  shortening  the  branches,  you  should 
observe  if  there  be  any  cross  branches,  that 
rub  against  each  other  ;  in  which  case,  one  of 
them  ought  to  be  sacrificed  ;  but,  on  these 
points,  little  can  be  learned  except  from  expe- 
rience. I  shall,  in  a  future  letter,  give  a  short 
account  of  the  formation  of  the  bloom  and  leaf 


Turf  is  generally  laid  about  the  first  of  April, 
but,   from  the  size  of  your  garden,  I  do  not 
D 


42  SOWING  SEEDS.  [FEB. 

suppose  any  will  be  required.  I  ought  to  have 
mentioned,  while  I  was  writing  on  edgings,  that 
a  border  of  turf,  six  inches  wide,  cut  very 
close,  makes  a  very  neat  edging,  but  more 
labour  and  attention  is  required  to  keep  it  in 
order  than  box,  and  it  does  not  answer  well, 
except  where  the  beds  are  very  large,  and  the 
edges  consist  chiefly  of  straight  lines :  besides, 
the  corners  of  turf  are  apt  to  be  trodden  down 
and  worn  out. 

It  is  in  March,  that  the  seeds  of  auriculas 
and  polyanthuses  should  be  sown  in  boxes; 
but  these  and  all  the  flowers  usually  called 
florists'  flowers,  (among  which  are  carnations, 
tulips,  anemonies,  &c.)  are  so  difficult  of  culti- 
vation, that  I  advise  a  novice  in  gardening  to  be 
contented  with  possessing  a  few  of  the  hardiest 
auriculas  and  handsomest  polyanthuses  in  his 
borders,  and  not  attempt  to  grow  the  finer 
sorts. 


SOWING   SEEDS.  43 

I  shall  begin  the  last  of  March,  if  the  season 
is  favourable,  to  sow,  in  patches,  hardy  annuals, 
which  are  to  remain  in  the  borders  where  they 
are  sown ;  such  as  lupins,  sweet-peas,  candy- 
tuft, Virginian  stock,  and  pink  and  yellow 
hawk-weed.  In  sowing  these,  I  take  away  a 
little  of  the  earth  from  the  place  where  the 
seed  is  to  be  sown,  and  after  making  the  place 
quite  even,  I  sprinkle  a  little  seed  on  it,  cover 
it  over  with  fine  light  mould :  the  seeds  must 
be  sown  deeper  in  the  earth,  according  to  their 
size.  Lupins  and  seeds  of  the  same  description 
ought  to  be  put  in  separately :  a  ring  with  six 
lupins,  planted  three  inches  apart,  will  make  a 
good  patch. 

.  The  places  where  seeds  are  sown  should 
always  be  marked  by  sticks,  having  the  names 
of  the  plants  on  them ;  because,  in  sowing  the 
second  time,  it  is  proper  to  know  what  is  in  the 


44  SOWING  SEEDS.  [FEB. 

ground,  that  you  may  not  put  flowers  of  the 
same  colour  too  near  each  other.  The  sticks 
are  to  be  prepared  in  the  following  manner: 
some  laths  must  be  cut  into  pieces  six  inches 
long,  and  made  pointed  at  one  end,  and  smooth 
on  one  side  of  the  other  end,  on  which  a  small 
quantity  of  white  paint  is  to  be  rubbed  with  a 
bit  of  flannel,  as  thinly  as  possible,  and  the 
names  of  thQ  seeds  written  with  a  black-lead 
pencil,  while  the  paint  is  wet.  This  process 
will  effectually  prevent  the  rain  from  effacing 
what  is  written  on  these  markers.  Herbaceous 
plants  may  be  marked  in  the  same  manner, 
only  that  part  of  the  stick  which  is  put  into  the 
ground  ought  to  be  dipped  in  pitch,  to  prevent 
it's  decaying  during  the  winter. 

Yours  very  truly, 
G 


HELLEBORUS    NIGER.      Christmas  Rose. 


ERANTHIS   HYEMALIS.      Winter  Hellebore,  or  Aconite. 


BULBOUS    ROOTS.  47 


LETTER  UL 

March. 

I  MUST  now  give  a  description  of  my  succes- 
sion bed,  as  I  name  the  .border  into  which  I 
have  collected  all  my  Spring  flowering  bulbs. 
It  is  diamond  shaped ;  at  each  corner  are  plac- 
ed anemonies,  and  hepaticas,  of  the  last  of 
which  I  possess  five  varieties  ;  the  double  and 
single  blue,  double  and  single  pink,  and  single 
white;  but  as  the  single  white  is  not  very 
showy,  and  does  not  grow  freely,  I  have  not 
given  it  so  distinguished  a  place  as  the  others. 

Entirely  round  this  diamond,  and  close  to 
the  box  edging,  is  a  row  of  yellow  aconite,  the 
seed  of  which  was  sown  last  June ;  and  next 
to  that  one  of  double  snowdrops :  then  comes 
a  row  of  the  early  crocuses,  which  are  called 


48  BULBOUS  ROOTS.  [MARCH. 

cloth  of  gold,  and  which  have  the  merit  of 
opening  when  there  is  no  sun,  which  is  not  the 
case  with  the  other  sorts :  after  these,  there  is 
a  row  of  blue  crocuses,  then  one  of  white ;  « 
rows  of  the  late  flowering  yellow  and  dark 
blue,  follow. 

Next  to  the  crocuses,  are  three  rows  of  hya- 
cinths; and  the  middle  its  filled  with  early 
tulips,  which,  though  not  of  the  finest  kinds, 
make  a  very  good  show  when  in  blossom. 

You  are,  perhaps,  surprised  at  my  possessing 
so  many  bulbs;  I  have  but  little  money  to 
spend  in  purchases,  and  as  I  think  the  greatest 
pleasure  consists  in  raising  plants  one's-self,  I  did 
not  buy  these,  or  at  least  only  a  few ;  I  have 
been  some  time  collecting  them. 

The  different  sorts  of  crocuses,  I  have  long 
had ;  and  as  they  increase  very  rapidly,  a  good 
•stock  is  soon  obtained. 


FORCED  AND  WILD  HYACINTHS.      49 

The  hyacinths  are  those  which  have  been 
forced  in  pots,  and  were  given  to  me  by  the 
gardener,  year  after  year,  because  they  were 
too  much  exhausted  to  force  again.  I  there- 
fore planted  them  in  good  soil,  that  they  might 
recover  strength,  after  the  unnatural  way  in 
which  they  had  been  treated. 

The  tulips  were  mostly  offsets,  obtained  at 
different  times,  and  which  in  two  years  become 
good  flowering  roots. 

Opposite  to  this  bed  is  one  of  the  same  size 
and  shape,  which  I  have  filled  with  scarlet  ane- 
monies  and  blue  hyacinths,  or  wild  orchises, 
dug  up  from  the  woods  and  hedges.  These 
two  kinds  flower  together,  and  the  colours 
contrast  admirably ;  the  idea  was  taken  from  a 
bed  of  red  anemonies  and  dark  blue  hyacinths ; 
but,  as  I  was  unable  to  buy  the  latter,  I  substi- 
tuted the  purple  orchis  which  abounds  in  our 
4  E 


50  RANUNCULUSES.  [MARCH. 

woods.  These  borders  are  the  pride  of  my 
summer  garden. 

In  order  that  the  anemonies  should  flower  at 
the  same  time  as  the  orchises,  they  should  be 
planted  at  the  end  of  October.  The  violets, 
snowdrops,  crocuses,  and  hepaticas,  are  so 
very  forward,  that  I  expect  they  will  be  in 
bloom  in  April. 

Since  you  have  got  some  roots,  and  are 
determined  on  growing  them,  I  shall  copy  from 
a  book  on  gardening,  the  simplest  method  of 
making  a  suitable  bed ;  but,  as  I  said  before,  I 
do  not  recommend  you,  wrhilst  a  beginner,  to 
cultivate  what  are  termed  florists'  flowers. 
When  you  know  more  on  the  subject  in  gene- 
ral, if  you  feel  inclined  to  grow  carnations, 
ranunculuses,  auriculas,  &c.,  I  should  advise 
you  to  buy  "  Hogg  on  the  Carnation,"  which  is 
an  amusing  and  very  instructive  little  book. — - 


SOIL  FOR  RANUNCULUSES.  51 

But  to  continue  my  instructions : — the  bed  for 
ranunculuses  should  be  from  eighteen  inches  to 
two  feet  deep,  and  not  raised  more  than  four 
inches  above  the  level  of  the  walks,  in  order 
to  preserve  the  moisture  more  effectually. 

At  about  five  inches  below  the  surface,  should 
be  placed  a  stratum  of  two-year  old  rotten 
cow-dung,  mixed  with  earth,  six  or  eight  inches 
thick;  but  the  earth  above,  where  the  roots 
are  to  be  planted,  should  be  perfectly  free  from 
dung,  which  would  prove  injurious  rather  than 
beneficial,  if  too  near  them. 

The  fibres  will  draw  sufficient  nourishment 
from  it  at  the  depth  mentioned;  but  if  the 
dung  were  placed  deeper,  it  would  not  receive 
so  much  advantage  from  the  action  of  the  air, 
which  is  an  object  of  consequence. 

The  surface  of  the  bed  should  be  raked  per- 


52  PLANTING  RANUNCULUSES.         [MARCH. 

fectly  flat,  and  the  roots  planted  in  rows,  at  the 
distance  of  about  five  inches  from  each  other. 

It  is  better  to  plant  in  shallow  trenches, 
made  nearly  two  inches  deep,  than  to  make 
holes  for  the  reception  of  the  roots.  The 
making  the  holes  hardens  the  surrounding 
earth,  and  the  holes  are  sometimes  not  well 
filled  up,  and  there  is  then  an  open  cup  left  at 
the  bottom,  which  holds  the  water,  and  not 
unfrequently  causes  the  root  to  rot. 

A  little  clean  coarse  sand  should  be  sprink- 
led into  the  trenches,  and  the  roots  should  be 
placed  with  the  claws  downwards,  from  three 
to  four  inches  asunder,  according  to  their  size. 
When  the  trench  has  received  the  roots,  it 
should  be  carefully  filled  up  with  the  same 
earth  that  was  taken  out,  so  as  to  cover  the 
root  exactly  one  inch  and  a  half.  It  is  not 
usual  to  plant  ranunculuses  intended  for  show 


HERBACEOUS  ANNUALS.  53 

(i.  e.  to  blow  in  the  greatest  perfection,)  after 
the  middle  of  March. 

I  have/ however,  planted  them  in  patches  in 
the  borders  in  April,  and  they  flowered  there 
very  well ;  so  that,  if  you  think  the  preparing 
the  bed  too  troublesome,  you  may  put  them  in 
one  of  your  shadiest  borders,  and  you  will 
have  a  good  chance  of  their  blowing  tolerably 
well. 

As  it  will  require  some  time  to  get  a  good 
collection  of  herbaceous  plants,  you  must  be 
contented,  this  year,  with  annuals ;  and  you 
will  find  that  you  can  make  your  garden  quite 
as  gay  with  the  commonest  of  these,  as  with 
many  of  the  rarer  sorts. 

In  order  that  the  half-hardy  annuals  should 
blow  early,  it  is  usual,  about  this  time,  to  sow 
them  on  a  gentle  hot-bed,  or  in  pots  placed 
near  light,  in  a  garden  frame,  or  green-house ; 


54  HALF-HARDY    ANNUALS.         [MARCH. 

but,  unless  you  can  transplant,  or  prick  them 
out,  as  the  gardeners  say,  into  another  frame, 
when  they  come  up,  or  pot  them,  about  four 
in  a  pot,  and  keep  them  in  the  frame,  or  green- 
house, till  they  can  be  safely  planted  out  in  the 
open  borders  in  May,  it  is  better  to  wait  till 
the  end  of  the  month,  or  the  beginning  of  April, 
before  you  sow  the  seeds  of  ten  week  stocks, 
Indian  pinks,  marvel  of  Peru,  French  and  Afri- 
can marygolds,  China  asters,  &c. 

If  you  have  no  garden  lights,  you  may,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  the  half-hardy  annuals,  make 
a  bed  of  a  little  hot  dung,  and  put  about  three 
inches  of  mould  on  it.  Before  you  sow  the 
seeds,  bend  over  it1*  some  hazel  sticks,  in  the 
form  of  hoops,  and  throw  a  mat  over  the  hoops, 
at  night,  to  protect  the  seedlings  from  the  frost, 
giving  them  the  full  benefit  of  light  and  sun  in 
the  daytime :  but  as  this  will  be  a  troublesome 


BIENNIALS  AND  PERENNIALS.  55 

operation,  I  should  advise  you,  this  year,  to 
apply  to  the  gardener  for  all  the  common  half- 
hardy  annuals,  as  he  will,  of  course,  have  a  hot- 
bed to  grow  them  on. 

I  will  send,  in  May,  seedlings  of  the  newest 
sorts  of  annuals,  which  have  lately  been  intro- 
duced into  this  country.  I  have  told  you  how 
to  raise  them,  in  case  you  wish  to  do  so 
yourself. 

While  on  the  subject  of  sowing  seeds,  I  must 
advise  that,  some  time  next  month,  a  bed  be 
sown  with  perennials  and  biennials,  so  as  to 
have  them  ready  to  plant  out  in  the  autumn ; 
the  best  are  wallflowers,  rose  campions,  sweet- 
williams,  Canterbury  bells,  foxgloves,  French 
honeysuckles,  scabious  and  Chinese  hollyhocks ; 
the  three  latter  will  probably  flower  this  year. 
When  the  plants  make  their  appearance,  the 
bed  must  be  thinned  out,  and  the  seedlings,  as 


56  INDIGENOUS  SHRUBS,   &c.         [MARCH. 

soon  as  they  have  five  or  six  leaves,  should 
be  planted  in  the  places  where  they  are  to 
remain. 

But  beware  of  crowding  your  garden  by 
planting  too  many,  as  they  will  all  grow  large 
and  tall,  except  the  wallflower.  Consider  also, 
when  you  plant  out  seedlings,  the  size  they  will 
be  when  full-grown,  and  allow  sufficient  space 
for  them  to  attain  that  size,  without  injuring  the 
plants  that  may  be  near  them. 

Our  indigenous  shrubs  and  evergreens  may 
be  planted  soon,  if  required ;  they  must  be  ta- 
ken up  with  good  balls  of  earth  attached  to  the 
roots,  that  the  smaller  fibres  may  be  disturbed 
and  broken  as  little  as  possible.  Continue  also 
to  transplant  rose  trees,  and  to  take  suckers 
from  them,  in  order  to  make  new  plants ;  tak- 
ing care,  however,  that  the  suckers  have  roots, 
otherwise,  you  will  not  succeed  in  removing 


INDIGENOUS  SHRUBS,  &c.  57 

them ;  or,  at  least,  it  will  be  long  before  they 
recover. 

I  hope  to  hear  that  you  are  better  pleased 
with  your  garden  than  when  I  last  heard  from 
you,  and  that  you  think  it  will  soon  be  as 
great  an  amusement  to  you,  as  mine  is  to, 
dear  Harry, 

Yours  affectionately, 
G. 


58  FLOWERING  LILIES,   &c  [APRIL, 


LETTER  IV. 

April  6th. 

You  complain  of  the  garden  being  dreary, 
and  expect  a  flourishing  account  of  mine.  This 
is  a  bad  sign :  it  seems  that  you  are  not  con- 
tented with  your  own,  and  begin  to  covet  that 
of  your  neighbour. 

I  am  almost  inclined  to  send  you  a  long 
letter  on  this  subject.  Do  you,  then,  suppose 
I  have  a  secret  method  of  flowering  lilies 
and  roses,  in  the  open  ground,  in  April  ?  As 
your  crocuses,  hepaticas,  and  violets  are  in 
bloom,  your  garden  must  be  nearly  as  gay  as 
mine  is  ;  for,  besides  those  I  have  named,  I  can 
only  boast  of  a  few  anemonies,  and  snowdrops, 
and  the  yellow  aconite. 


THE    YELLOW    ACONITE.  59 

The  yellow  aconite  is  one  of  the  earliest 
of  the  spring  flowers;  it  is  very  gay,  and, 
if  you  can  procure  seeds,  I  almost  recom- 
mend you  to  make  an  edging  of  it,  by  sow- 
ing a  row  quite  close  to  your  box.  In  May 
it  will  produce  seeds,  and  the  plant  will  lie 
down  and  remain  at  rest,  till  again,  at  the  end 
of  nine  months,  it  is  called  into  action  by  the 
early  spring.  This  aconite  (the  common  or 
popular  name  of  which  I  do  not  know)  is,  I 
believe,  a  native  of  the  countries  where  the 
snow  lies  long,  and  on  the  melting  of  which, 
the  plant  and  flower  come  forth  at  once,  and 
live  through  the  short  sumrtier,  awaiting  to  be 
buried  again  in  snow. 

It  is  singular,  that  variation  of  climate  should 
not  vary  the  habits  of  plants  ;  but  although 
plants  that  come  from  warm  countries,  are, 
by  degrees,  made  to  bear  the  cold  of  this 


60  HERBACEOUS  PLANTS.  [APRIL 

climate,  still,  the-  alteration  made  in  what  may 
be  termed  the  habits  of  the  plant,  is  very  small. 

You  will,  I  think,  find  this  subject  very 
interesting,  when  you  know  more  about  gar- 
dening, and  grow  in  the  open  air  some  of 
those  beautiful  plants,  which  have,  till  very 
lately,  been  entirely  confined  to  our  stoves, 
and  which  are  now  successfully  cultivated, 
during  the  summer,  in  our  gardens. 

You  may  now  divide  and  plant  the  roots  of 
any  hardy  herbaceous  plants  that  are  too  large: 
this  is,  therefore,  the  season  to  ask  for  such 
roots  as  the  gardener,  or  your  friends,  can 
spare. 

I  have  been  extremely  busy  since  I  last 
wrote,  digging  some  borders  which  were  neg- 
lected last  autumn.  I  have  had  many  herba- 
ceous plants  to  divide  and  replant,  and  am 
now  going  to  make  a  bed  foi  some  ranuncu- 


HALF-HARDY   ANNUALS.  61 

luses,  which  I  have  raised  from  seed.  The 
spring-planted  ranunculuses  flower  very  late ; 
they  must;  therefore,  be  planted  in  a  shady 
border,  as  the  sun,  in  July,  is  almost  too  pow- 
erful for  them. 

You  may  sow  the  following  seeds  in  the 
course  of  this  month,  if  the  season  is  favourable  : 
mimulus  lutea,  or  monkey-flower,  sweet  peas, 
pink  and  yellow  hawk-weed,  flos  adonis,  lark- 
spur, Venus'  looking-glass,  (the  large  sort, 
called  campanula  pentagon,  is  very  handsome,) 
mignonette,  convolvulus  minor,  stock,  mallows, 
or  any  other  hardy  annuals. 

By  the  middle  of  next  month,  begin  to  plant 
out  any  half-hardy  annuals  that  are  ready ;  or, 
if  your  soil  is  stiff,  pot  them,  three  or  four  in  a 
pot,  and  keep  them  in  a  frame  green-house, 
or  sheltered  with  hoops  and  a  mat  at  night,  and 
Him  them  out  after  they  have  rooted  well  and 


62        POTTING  HALF-HARDY  ANNUALS.    [APRIL. 

begun  to  grow ;  by  which  means,  they  will  not 
be  so  much  checked  by  the  change,  as  in 
transplanting  them  at  once  from  the  hot-bed 
into  the  open  ground. 

This  reminds  irfe  that  I  ought  to  tell  you,  it 
is  necessary  to  pay  great  attention  to  keeping 
the  roots  of  plants,  that  are  grown  in  pots,  well 
drained ;  to  effect  which,  a  piece  of  broken 
pot,  or  tile,  is  placed  over  the  hole  at  the 
bottom  of  the  pot,  and  brick  rubbish,  broken 
small,  should  then  be  put  in  so  as  to  fill  up  a 
fourth  of  it ;  but  all  this  care  is  not  necessary 
in  potting  annuals,  which  are,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  weeks,  to  be  transplanted  into  the 
border.  The  broken  brick,  or  tiles,  at  the 
bottpm,  secure  the  surplus  water  passing  off 
through  the  hole  at  the  bottom ;  if  they  were 
not  placed  there,  the  water  mixing  with  the 
earth  at  the  bottom  would  remain,  and  rot  the 
roots  of  the  plants. 


OROBUS    VERWJS.      Early  Flowering  Orobus,  or  Bitter  Vttch. 


IRIS   PERSICA.     Persian  2rt9. 


FLOWERS  IN    BLOOM.  65 

My  garden  promises  to  be  gay  very  shortly : 
the  hyacinths  are  beginning  to  burst ;  the  vio- 
lets, double  primroses,  (of  which  I  have  the 
common  yellow,  the  purple,  the  white,  and  the 
crimson,)  wallflowers,  daffodils,  and  crown-im- 
perials, are  in  flower ;  some  other  more  tender 
plants,  I  expect,  will  blossom  early  next  month. 
Among  these  are  the  common  Pulmonaria,  or 
lungwort,  with  its  pretty  variously  coloured 
bells,  some  pink,  some  purple,  and  others  dark 
blue ;  the  Canada  columbine,  (rather  a  scarce 
plant,)  Fritillaria  of  different  kinds,  Orobus 
vernus,  (a  small  pink  pea,  to  my  taste,  the 
prettiest  early  herbaceous  flower  we  have,)  and 
the  beautiful  Persian  iris,  which  appears  to 
some  people  to  possess  a  perfume  as  sweet 
and  powerful  as  the  violet,  while  to  others  it  is 
perfectly  scentless.  My  Sanguinaria  Cana- 

densis  will  flower  in  the  turf  before  the  month 
5  F 


66*  VARIETIES    OF    HEARTS-EASE.      [APRIL. 

is  over:  it  is  a  plant  I  admire,  as  well  on  ac- 
count of  the  leaf,  as  because  all  plants  in  blos- 
som at  this  season  of  the  year  are  valuable. 

One  of  my  greatest  favourites  is  the  hearts- 
ease, of  which  I  have  twelve  very  distinct  varie- 
ties. I  have  planted  an  edging  of  these,  by  di- 
viding the  patches  into  separate  plants,  round  a 
border  I  lately  made  for  rock  plants,  in  a  very 
dull  corner  of  my  garden,  where  nothing  grew 
before  but  dark  brown  trefoil. 

With  the  aid  of  a  few  large  stones,  clinkers, 
and  flints  thrown  carelessly  about,  and  the  in- 
tervals filled  with  fine  mould,  and  planted  with 
different  sorts  of  dwarf  cistus,  houseleeks,  peri- 
winkle, the  small  variegated  leaved  sort  of  snap- 
dragon, that  you  must  have  seen  on  old  walls, 
and  the  last,  not  least  in  my  estimation,  the 
modest  Houstonia  cc&rulea,  which  our  poets 
have  celebrated, — I  have  made  a  very  pretty 


ROCK   PLANTS.  67 

addition  to  my  borders,  in  a  part  of  my  garden 
that  was  formerly  very  ugly,  and  on  that  ac- 
count always  neglected. 

It  is  usual  for  persons  who  have  hyacinths 
and  tulips  to  tie  them  up  to  short  sticks,  as  soon 
as  the  flowers  begin  to  be  top-heavy.  When 
you  have  a  bed  of  fine  hyacinths,  you  must 
protect  them  from  sun,  rain,  and  wind :  the  sun 
not  only  causes  the  blossoms  to  ^  fade,  but 
shortens  the  time  of  their  continuance  in  per- 
fection. 

The  rains  and  winds  of  this  month  are 
equally  destructive :  indeed,  an  April  storm 
will  sometimes  strip  off  half  the  bells  from 
the  flower  stalks,  and  snap  in  two  some  of  the 
heaviest  and  finest  blossoms  ;  so  if  you  wish 
to  make  a  good  show,  and  to  double  its  dura- 
tion, build  a  cover  over  them. 

The  great  tulip  and  hyacinth  fanciers  have  a 


68  CHEAP  AWNING    FOR   BULBS.       (APRIL. 

temporary  awning  for  this  purpose.  The  plan 
I  have  adopted  is  cheap,  and  is  as  follows. 
Get  stakes  four  feet  long ;  stick  a  row  of  them 
on  each  side  of  the  bed,  eighteen  inches  apart ; 
drive  them  a  foot  into  the  ground,  and  tie  rods 
between  them,  to  reach  across  the  bed,  to  sup- 
port the  awning.  This  awning  may  be  made 
of  any  cheap  material,  such  as  coarse  calico, 
or  old  canvass,  or  a  mat  thrown  over  will 
answer  the  same  purpose ;  but  care  must  be 
taken  to  remove  this  covering  at  all  times,  ex- 
cept during  the  full  sunshine,  or  when  there 
are  driving  winds  or  rains  ;  if  not,  you  will  de- 
prive the  flowers  of  light ;  and  as  all  vegetable 
colours  depend  on  light,  the  blossoms,  without 
it,  will  be  pale ;  and  the  instinct,  if  I  may  so  call 
it,  of  plants  leading  them  to  seek  the  light,  its 
absence  causes  them  to  expend  their  strength 
in  growing  tall  in  search  of  more,  and  then 
they  become  what  is  termed  drawn. 


EFFECT  OF  LIGHT  ON  PLANTS.  69 

You  will  soon  learn  this  property  of  plants ; 
and  observe  that  those  grown  in  the  shade  are 
always  both  paler  and  taller  than  similar  kinds 
grown  where  the  light  is  admitted  freely,  and 
that  the  colours  of  plants,  particularly  the 
green,  depend  on  light,  and  light  only.  This 
may  soon  be  proved  by  putting  a  pot  over  any 
growing  plant,  and  you  will  find  that  it  will 
lose  its  green  colour ;  but  that  when  the  light 
is  again  admitted,  it  recovers  it. 

Hence  the  common  process  of  blanching  or 
whitening  endive  for  the  table,  by  tying  up  the 
plant  with  bass,  so  that  the  light  is  shut  out 
from  the  inner  leaves,  the  putting  pots  over 
sea-kale,  and  covering  up  celery  with  earth: 
all  of  which,  being  deprived  of  light,  soon  be 
come  white. 

Among  the  tender  annuals,  which  should 
now  be  sown,  are  coxcombs,  tricolours,  globe 


70  TENDER  ANNUALS.  [APRIL 

amaranthus,  ice  plants,  stramoniums,  egg  plants, 
and  balsams.  The  three  first  named  are  too 
tender  to  be  planted  out  in  the  borders,  till 
very  late  in  the  season,  when  they  are  in 
flower,  and  should  not  therefore  be  sown  by 
any  one  who  has  not  a  green-house  or  frame 
to  grow  them  in,  as  they  cannot  safely  be  put 
out  of  doors  till  they  are  nearly  full  grown. 

I  should  not  advise  you  to  have  more  than 
two  or  three  egg  plants,  as  they  are  more  sin- 
gular than  showy :  the  purple  variety  is  the 
handsomest.  Datura  stramonium  is  very  hand- 
some, but  produces  but  few  flowers. 

You  might  sow  some  seed  of  balm  of  Gilead, 
or  raise  plants  from  cuttings :  this  is  a  perennial 
plant,  very  useful  to  plant  out  in  May,  as  it 
grows  freely.  On  account  of  the  delightful  fra- 
grance of  the  leaf,  it  isjery  useful  for  the  green 
part  of  a  nosegay ;  and  when  dried,  it  continues 


CARNATIONS  FROM    SEED.  71 

highly  aromatic,  and  is  a  great  addition  to  a 
pot-pourri,  or  sweet-pot. 

The  green-house  Verbena  also  may  be  grown 
out  of  doors  for  the  same  purpose :  against  a 
wall,  it  will  live  during  the  winter.  I  must  tell 
you  it  is  a  deciduous  plant,  that  you  may  not 
imagine  it  to  be  dead  when  you  see  it  stripped 
of  its  leaves. 

May  is  the  month  in  which  carnation  seed 
ought  to  be  sown.  I  have  already  said,  that 
it  is  necessary  to  be  what  is  called  a  florist,  in 
order  to  grow  these  flowers  in  perfection ;  but, 
nevertheless,  I  have  been  so  much  amused  by 
raising  varieties  of  them,  from  seed  sent  to  me 
from  Berlin,  (where  they  are  celebrated  for 
carnations,)  that  I  cannot  help  giving  a  short 
account  of  my  method  of  managing  them.  It 
is  very  simple. 

The  seed  is  sown  at  this  season  in  pans,  and 


72  CARNATIONS   PROM    SEED.          [APRIL 

set  near  the  light  in  the  green-house,  or  in  a 
frame,  or  even  in  the  open  air,  if  there  is  nei- 
ther frame  nor  green-house.  As  soon  as  it 
comes  up,  the  pans  are  taken  out,  and  placed 
under  an  east  wall,  and  sufficiently  watered  in 
dry  weather.  In  June,  the  seedlings  are  plant- 
ed in  a  bed  of  fine  light  mould,  in  rows,  six 
inches  apart,  and  kept  well  watered  during  dry 
weather.  In  the  autumn,  hoops  are  put  over, 
(in  the  way  I  have  already  directed  with  re- 
spect to  hyacinths,)  in  order  that  they  may  be 
covered  over  with  mats  in  frosty  or  wet  wea- 
ther, the  wet  being  quite  as  injurious  as  the 
frost.  In  the  beginning  of  April  following,  every 
other  one  may  be  transplanted  into  the  borders, 
and  the  rest  left  to  flower  in  the  bed. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  month,  I  shall  send 
a  basket  of  plants  with  my  letter,  but  I  shall 
probably  have  so  much  of  my  spare  time  taken 


CARNATIONS    FROM    SEED.  73 

up  with  digging  up  the  plants  I  send,  naming 
and  packing  them  with  moss,  that  I  shall  not 
perhaps  have  time  enough  to  write  so  long  a 
letter  as  usual.  As  you  desired  to  have  two  or 
three  sketches  of  our  garden,  I  have  sent  one ; 
and  you  may  expect  to  have  one  occasionally, 
when  I  have  time  to  copy  it ;  for  I  cannot  yet 
draw  from  nature  well  enough  to  present  you 
with  any  of  my  own. 

Ever  your  affectionate  friend, 
G  G. 


APRIL. 


THE  YOUNG    GARDENERS. 


PROPAGATING    DAHLIAS.  75 


LETTER  V. 

May. 

You  will  receive  with  this  letter  a  basket, 
containing  some  half-hardy  annuals,  and  green- 
house plants.  I  also  send  a  few  roots  of  Dah- 
lias, marvel  of  Peru,  and  Commelina  codestis. 
These  roots  were  taken  out  of  the  ground  in 
the  autumn,  before  the  frost  had  set  in;  the 
earth  wras  shaken  from  them,  and  they  \vere 
placed  on  a  shelf  in  the  green-house  during 
the  winter. 

You  must  treat  them  in  the  same  manner, 
if  you  wish  to  preserve  them  for  the  next  year : 
a  closet  or  cellar,  if  not  too  damp,  wrill  do  equal- 
ly well.  They  may  soon  be  planted  in  the 
ground ;  and  if  you  want  more  Dahlias,  or  mar- 
vel of  Peru,  you  must  propagate  them  by  taking 


76  PROPAGATING  DAHLIAS.  [MAY. 

off  cuttings,  with  a  small  piece  of  the  root,  call- 
ed the  tuber,  attached  to  each.  These  should 
be  put  intto  pots,  and  set  in  a  frame,  or  green- 
house, till  they  have  struck ;  or  if  you  can  crib 
a  fortnight's  birth  for  them,  in  a  corner  of  a 
cucumber  bed,  they  will  strike  root  much 
quicker ;  and  they  may  be  sooner  planted  in 
the  open  ground,  so  as  to  flower  this  year. 
If,  however,  you  strike  them  in  a  hot-bed,  you 
must  put  them  into  the  green-house,  to  harden, 
as  it  is  called,  that  is,  to  make  the  change 
of  temperature  less  violent  before  you  plant 
them  in  the  garden.  If  you  took  them  out  of 
the  hot-bed,  and  put  them  immediately  into 
the  ground,  the  sudden  and  great  change  would 
almost  kill  them. 

This  treatment  applies  to  all  plants  raised  in 
the  same  manner.  These  cuttings  will  flower 
the  first  year,  quite  as  well  as  the  old  plants ; 


ESCHSCHOLTZIA    CALIFORNICA.      Calif ornian  L'schsc/ivltzia 


(ENOTHERA   LINDLEYANA.      Lindlcy's  (Enothcra. 


NEW    ANNUALS.  79 

and  I  think  you  will  find  this  the  best  month  to 
take  the  cuttings. 

Among  --the  annuals  I  send,  are  three  new 
sorts,  of  our  own  North  American  plants  :  pray 
give  them  the  best  places  under  your  wall. 

They  are  marked  Clarkia  pulchella,  Escholt- 
zia  Californica,  and  JEnothera  Lindlyana.  Es- 
choltzia  cannot  properly  be  called  an  annual, 
because  its  root,  if  taken  up  and  kept  during 
the  winter  in  sand,  will  flower  again  when 
replanted  in  the  spring  ;  or  it  will  live  in  a  dry 
situation  through  the  winter.  Its  beautiful  deep 
chrome  yellow  flowers  are  not  unlike  those  of 
the  horned  poppy,  which  I  have  seen  on  the 
sea-shore.  I  find  that  this  plant  sows  itself  so 
freely,  that,  wherever  I  have  planted  it,  I  have 
the  next  year  had  hundreds  of  young  seedlings 
come  up  round  the  old  plant. 

There  are  many  plants  that  are  more  easily 


80  GREEN-HOUSE   PLANTS.  [MAY. 

increased,  by  allowing  the  seed-pods  to  ripen 
and  drop  the  seeds  on  the  ground,  than  if  they 
were  gathered  and  sowed  with  the  greatest 
care ;  when  you  find  this  the  case,  it  is  well,  in 
the  autumn,  when  the  seed  is  nearly  ripe,  to 
rake  the  ground  a  little  round  the  plant,  and  not 
to  permit  it  to  be  disturbed  till  the  seeds  have 
come  up.  I  believe  the  reason  for  these  plants 
increasing  spontaneously  is,  that  the  seed  re- 
quires to  be  sown  as  soon  as  it  is  ripe. 

I  advise  that  you  plant  out  the  green-house 
plants  which  I  have  sent,  in  your  warmest  bor- 
der, where  they  will  flower  far  better  than  in 
pots :  you  must  take  cuttings  from  them,  when- 
ever you  see  any  fit,  which  will  be  when  the 
shoot  has  attained  its  full  size.  These  cuttings 
must  be  kept  in  a  green-house,  or  cold  frame, 
during  the  winter.  You  will  find  it  better,  ateo, 
to  take  cuttings  of  those  geraniums  and  green- 


CLARKIA   PULCHELLA.     Pretty  Clarkia 

6 


82  GREEN-HOUSE    PLANTS.  [MAY 

house  plants  which  you  plant  out,  than  to  take 
up  the  old  plants,  as  they  never,  in  my  opinion, 
thrive  when  confined  in  pots,  after  being  allow- 
ed to  grow  freely,  which  they  do  when  planted 
in  the  borders;  besides,  the  cuttings  do  not 
occupy  half  the  space  of  the  old  plants. 

The  sorts  I  send  are  quite  common ;  and 
should  you  not  succeed  with  the  cuttings,  you 
will  replace  them,  next  year,  at  a  trifling  ex- 
pense. The  prettiest  plant  among  them  is  Cal- 
ceolaria rugosa,  which  will  be  covered  all  the 
summer  with  bright  yellow  flowers,  which  ap- 
pear at  first  sight  like  little  balls,  till,  on  examin- 
ing them,  you  see  the  reason  why  it  is  called 
Calceolaria,  or  slipper  wort.  You  need  not 
take  cuttings  of  this  plant  till  the  autumn. 

You  will  admire,  also,  the  Petunia  nyctagini- 
flora,  which  is  very  nearly  allied  to  the  to- 
bacco plant,  and  is  commonly  called  white 
tobacco. 


THE  NIGHT    STOCK.  83 

You  will  find  two  kinds  of  Penstemon,  (or 
beard-tongue)  and  Lychnis  coronaria.  The 
latter  is  a  most  splendid  flower,  and  I  should 
recommend  its  roots  to  be  taken  up  in  the 
autumn  and  potted,  as  it  is  an  herbaceous  plant, 
and  cuttings  of  it  may  be  struck,  next  spring, 
when  it  shoots  up. 

I  think  you  will  be  pleased  with  the  pretty 
purple  Verbena  aubletia  ;  but  the  very  eye  of 
the  packet  is  the  Verbena  melindris.  Its  bright, 
deep,  rich  scarlet,  surpasses  even  the  best 
geranium's  colour :  it  grows  as  freely  as  grass  : 
every  slip  you  stick  into  a  pot  strikes  root,  and 
soon  flowers.  It  will  not  stand  the  winter 
any  more  than  the  Verbena  aubletia;  so  that 
you  must  plant  some  cuttings  in  pots  in  the 
month  of  August,  and  keep  them  in  a  green- 
house through  the  winter. 

There  is  in  the  basket  one  plant,  Cheiranthus 


LYCHNIS   CORONARIA.      Chinese  Lychnis 


MIFPY    PLANTS.  85 

tristis,  or  night-flowering  stock,  which,  when 
you  see  it  first  open,  you  will  wonder  why  I, 
who  profess  to  grow  showy  flowers  only,  should 
have  sent  it,  as  its  small,  dirty  looking  blossom 
will  not  appear  to  have  the  least  merit.  You 
will  smell  it;  and  if  it  should  happen  to  be 
morning  when  you  do  so,  you  will  feel  tempted 
to  root  it  out  as  being  both  ugly  and  scentless  ; 
but  have  patience  till  the  evening,  and  you  will 
find  its  perfume  as  singular  as  it  is  delicious.  It 
is  one  of  the  freest  flowering  plants  I  know, 
and  will  not  leave  off  till  killed  by  the  frosts ; 
and  I  think  the  more  blossoms  you  gather,  the 
more  it  produces. 

This  is  not  the  only  flower  which  emits  no 
odour  during  the  daytime,  though  it  is  the  com- 
monest of  this  description,  and  the  sweetest, 
excepting  always  the  pretty  Erinus  lychnidea, 
the  scent  of  which  resembles  vanilla. 


86         MAKING  AND  STRIKING  CUTTINGS.  [MAY. 

This,  however,  is  a  green-house  plant,  and  is 
difficult  to  manage,  being  what  gardeners  call 
miffy;  which  means,  that  it  suddenly  dies, 
without  any  apparent  cause ;  though  I  believe 
the  cause  to  be  too  much  water,  and  want  of 
sufficiently  well  draining  the  pots,  as  I  have 
before  explained. 

I  planted  out  the  only  one  I  had,  last  year, 
in  a  warm  border,  after  it  had  flowered  in  the 
spring ;  and  it  seemed  to  like  the  treatment 
very  well,  as  it  flowered  again  in  July.  It  is 
not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  so  easy  to  raise  from 
cuttings  as  most  green-house  plants. 

As  I  have  mentioned  making  cuttings  several 
times  in  this  letter,  I  ought  to  give  a  few  direc- 
tions on  the  subject.  In  the  first  place,  all 
cuttings  should  be  'made  with  a  sharp  knife, 
exactly  below  any  joint  from  whence  leaves 
snring  forth,  as  it  is  from  these  joints  that  the 


MANAGEMENT    OF    CUTTINGS.  87 

roots  proceed.  Next,  you  will  find  the  wood 
of  some  plants,  such  as  roses,  &c.,  and,  indeed, 
I  believe,  of  most  shrubs,  requires  to  be  what  is 
termed  ripe,  that  is,  to  have  attained  its  full 
maturity,  or  growth,  before  it  is  fit  for  cuttings ; 
while  again,  in  others,  as  heaths,  &c.,  it  is  im- 
possible to  strike  cuttings  from  any  thing  but 
the  young  tender  shoots. 

I  know  no  rule,  by  which  I  can  tell  you  how 
to  distinguish  between  those  plants  which  re- 
quire to  have  the  cuttings  taken  from  the  old  or 
from  the  young  wood,  except  that  if  the  wood, 
when  mature,  is  very  hard,  it  is  found  not  pos- 
sible to  make  it  strike  roots,  except  in  a  young 
state.  These  are  exemplified  in  the  case  of 
heaths,  where  the  wood  is  extremely  hard ; 
and  in  the  case  of  roses,  where  it  is  soft  and 
full  of  pith  in  the  middle. 

The  pots,  in  which  cuttings  are  to  be  struck, 


88      CUTTINGS  OP  GREEN-HOUSE  PLANTS.[MAY. 

must  be  well  drained;  and  as  many  cuttings 
may  be  put  in,  quite  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
pot,  as  it  will  hold  without  crowding  them,  if 
they  do  not  require  being  covered  with  a  small 
glass,  which  is  only  necessary  for  cuttings  of 
very  tender  plants,  as  heaths,  or  such  as  are 
made  very  early  in  the  spring ;  in  which  case, 
they  are  put  close  together  in  the  middle  of  the 
pot,  and  a  small  bell-glass,  *or  a  finger  or  water- 
glass,  put  over  them. 

Very  little  water  need  be  given  them,  enough 
only  to  keep  the  cuttings  alive,  as  more  will 
cause  them  to  rot.  They  require  also  to  be 
shaded  from  the  sun,  and  yet  to  have  plenty  of 
light;  they  ought  to  be  potted  off  singly  in 
small  pots,  as  soon  as  they  have  taken  root. 

As  almost  all  green-house  plants  will  strike 
during  the  spring  and  summer  months,  it  is  not 
advisable  to  defer  taking  cuttings  till  the  au- 


CUTTINGS  OF  GREEN-HOUSE  PLANTS.          89 

tumn ;  because,  in  most  cases,  the  young  plants 
would  not  be  sufficiently  established  or  rooted 
in  the  pots  before  winter ;  and  they  ought  to 
be  kept  'From  growing  during  that  season. 
Nothing  weakens  plants  so  much  as  growing 
when  they  should  be  at  rest.  This  you  must 
have  noticed  in  the  case  of  common  flowers 
that  are  forced,  or  brought  into  flower  early  in 
the  spring,  which  require  a  full  year  to  recover 
their  vigour. 

While  on  the  subject  of  propagating  green- 
house plants,  I  must  recommend  to  your  no- 
tice a  book,*  which,  when  you  can  afford  to 
buy  it,  and  have  acquired  a  little  more  experi- 
ence, you  will  find  very  useful  as  a  manual, 
particularly  as  it  will  inform  you  by  name,  how 
to  strike  each  different  plant ;  and  is  one  of  the 
few  books  that  are  of  much  use  to  a  person 

*  Sweet's  Botanical  Cultivator. 

H 


90  FLOWERS    IN    BLOOM.  [MAY. 

generally  fond  of  flowers.  With  this,  and  a 
little  experience,  you  will  soon  become  a  tole- 
rable gardener. 

My  tulips  will  soon  be  in  full  bloom  and 
beauty.  Besides  jonquils,  I  have  Muscari  mos- 
chatum,  or  musk  hyacinth,  the  flowrer  of  which 
is  not  pretty,  but  makes  amends  for  its  want  of 
beauty  by  its  fragrance.  In  the  peat  border,  I 
have  a  beautiful  and  rare  kind  of  Uvularia.  The 
cinnamon  and  China  roses  are  beginning  to 
open.  I  have  also  some  columbines,  yellow 
alysson,  and  Anemone  pulsatilla,  or  Pasque 
flower,  an  English  plant,  and  very  beautiful ; 
besides  several  varieties  of  the  Anemone  hor- 
tensis,  or  scarlet  anemone  ;  of  these  last  I  have 
a  whole  row,  and  their  scarlet  heads  look  like  a 
line  of  soldiers.  I  could  name  a  few  other 
plants,  either  in  flower  or  just  bursting ;  but  I 
only  know  their  Latin  names,  and  I  fear  to  tire 
you  with  a  list  of  them. 


ANNUALS    TO    BE    SAVED.  91 

You  may,  at  this  time,  sow  some  of  the  half- 
hardy  annuals  in  the  open  borders :  they  will 
flower  late  in  the  autumn,  if  the  season  be  at  all 
favourable!  The  best  and  most  showy  of  these 
are  Indian  pinks,  Marvel  of  Peru,  French  and 
African  marygolds,  Chrysanthemum  tricolor, 
and  Persicaria.  Remember,  however,  that  the 
Persicaria  is  a  very  tall  plant.  Put  in  also  every 
month  till  July,  where  you  have  room,  a  few 
seeds  of  common  annuals,  and  they  will  flower 
even  as  late  as  November. 

I  think  that,  what  with  weeding,  raking,  ty- 
ing up  flower  stems,  planting  out  what  I  have 
sent,  and  keeping  them  watered  till  the  first 
shower,  you  will  have  more  than  enough  to  do, 
till  I  write  again. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 
G. 


92  PULLING    UP    WEEDS.  [JUNE. 


LETTER  VI. 

June  2. 

WHEN  I  recommended  that  your  garden 
should  be  laid  out  in  the  Dutch  fashion,  I  forgot 
to  remind  you  that  neatness  is  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  Dutch,  both  in  their  gardens 
and  houses.  I  hope  this  hint  will  not  be 
throwrn  away,  especially  as  you  will  soon  find 
that  sowing  and  planting  are  not  the  only  em- 
ployments of  a  gardener. 

Weeds  will  soon  begin  to  grow,  and  as  it  is 
only  the  sluggard  who  has  weeds  in  his  garden, 
I  hope  none  are  growing  in  your  little  patch. 
It  would  be  a  sure  sign  of  idleness  if  any  were 
found.  In  so  small  a  garden,  the  weeds  must 
be  pulled  up  by  the  hand,  as  fast  as  they  make 
their  appearance. 


WEEDING   AND   RAKING.  93 

I  do  not  at  all  approve  of  hoeing  in  a  flower 
garden.  It  may  be  done  in  a  shrubbery,  or 
where  the  borders  are  filled  with  coarse-grow- 
ing herbaceous  plants,  or  where  they  are  so 
wide  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  weed  them 
without  trampling  down  the  earth.  As  soon  as 
the  beds  are  weeded,  loosen  the  earth  between 
the  plants  a  little  with  a  hoe,  previously  to  rak- 
ing the  borders.  Raking,  however,  requires 
some  care,  and  will  be  better  learned  by 
wratching  a  gardener  perform  this  work,  than 
by  any  instructions  I  can  give. 

When  a  border  is  well  raked,  it  is  perfectly 
even  and  smooth,  and  no  scratches  of  the  rake 
are  left  behind.  I  leave  it  to  your  own  discre- 
tion as  to  how  often  it  is  necessary  to  weed 
and  rake :  the  oftener  this  is  done,  of  course 
the  neater  the  garden  will  be. 

I  find,  by  always  pulling  up  the  weeds  as  fast 


94  HARDY    AND    TENDER    ANNUALS.    [JUNE. 

as  they  come  through,  although  I  have  a  large 
piece  of  ground  to  take  care  of,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  weed  and  rake  it,  as  regularly  as  it  is 
to  sweep  it :  this  should  be  done  once  a  week. 
After  a  shower,  as  soon  as  the  gravel  is  suffi- 
ciently dry  to  prevent  its  sticking  to  the  roller, 
the  walks  should  always  be  rolled. 

When  the  herbaceous  flower  stems  begin  to 
shoot  up  and  appear  to  require  support,  they 
should  be  tied  with  twisted  bass  to  sticks,  of 
different  length,  according  to  the  height  the 
plant  will  attain;  the  bass  being  previously 
soaked  in  water,  to  make  it  tough. 

Continue  to  sow  both  hardy  and  tender  an- 
nuals, to  keep  up  a  succession  of  flowers.  This 
is  an  important  point  to  attend  to :  it  will  re- 
quire some  experience  and  forethought,  to  pre- 
vent your  flowers  from  being  so  sown  or  plant- 
ed, as  to  blow  all  at  one  time. 


TAKING    UP    BULBS.  95 

It  will  now  be  time  for  you  to  take  up  those 
bulbs,  of  which  the  leaves  are  nearly  decayed. 
I  can  fix  no  particular  day  for  this  operation ; 
because,  as  the  bulbs  flower  at  different  sea- 
sons, so  the  leaves  also  will  decay  at  different 
times  ;  but  the  general  rule  is,  to  take  them  up 
carefully,  as  soon  as  the  leaves  have  turned 
yellow,  and  to  lay  them  under  a  south  wall  to 
dry  and  ripen ;  taking  care  to  cover  them  with 
fine,  dry,  sandy  earth,  in  layers,  so  that  they 
may  not  touch  each  other.  When  the  leaves 
are  quite  decayed,  remove  the  bulbs,  and 
spread  them  to  dry  under  shelter  of  a  green- 
house, or  in  a  room  ;  and,  finally,  after  cleaning 
them  from  the  dirt,  take  off  their  old  coats,  or 
skins,  and  put  them  away  in  bags,  or  drawers,  in 
a  cool,  dry  place,  till  they  are  wanted  for  replant- 
ing in  the  autumn.  Do  not  fail  to  look  at  them, 
to  see  that  they  do  not  get  damp  and  mouldy. 
If  this  happens,  they  will,  most  likely,  rot. 


96  NATURAL    ECONOMY    OF    BULBS.     [JUNE. 

I  must  here  explain  why  bulbs  are  taken  up 
every  year :  the  great  object  is,  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  operations  of  gardening,  to  imitate  na- 
ture :  to  make  the  existence  of  foreign  plants,  as 
near  as  can  be  what  it  is  in  their  native  place. 
Tulips,  hyacinths,  and  most  of  those  bulbs 
which  are  taken  up,  come  from  countries  where 
the  whole  summer  is  dry,  and  in  winter  the 
ground  is  covered  with  snow ;  the  spring  rains 
alone  call  them  into  life  and  flower.  Travellers 
describe  whole  regions  in  Persia  as  being  co- 
vered in  the  spring  with  enamelled  carpets  of 
scilla  (hyacinths,)  tulips,  and  other  bulbous 
plants:  long  drought  succeeds  the  rains  of 
spring,  the  leaves  die  away,  and  the  plant 
rests  again  under  the  dry  earth  till  the  following 
spring. 

As,  in  our  country,  they  can  have  no  dry 
earth  to  rest  in  during  the  summer,  the  best 


CAUTIONS    RESPECTING    BULBS.  U 

imitation  of  their  natural  state  is  to  take  up  the 
bulb,  and  keep  it  dry ;  as  it  would  otherwise  be 
rotted  by  the  summer  rains,  or  caused  to  grow 
in  the  autumn ;  in  which  latter  case,  the  plant 
would  not  flower  in  the  spring,  as  the  flower 
stalks  would  be  killed  by  the  wet  and  cold  of 
winter,  before,  or  soon  after,  it  came  to  the 
surface. 

There  is  another  point  on  which  I  must  guard 
you,  namely ;  not  to  cut  off  the  leaves  of  tulips, 
hyacinths,  and  other  bulbs,  whilst  green.  This 
is  often  done  by  ignorant  gardeners ;  and  the 
plant  is  thereby  either  killed,  or  injured  for  a 
long  time.  You  will  easily  understand  the  rea- 
son of  this ;  nature  having  provided  that,  in  the 
very  earliest  of  the  spring,  the  plant  should 
throw  up  its  leaves,  and,  soon  after,  its  flower 
stem :  it  has  no  time  to  lose. 

When  the  spring  goes,  the  rain  for  the  year 
7  I 


98  CAUTIONS    RESPECTING    BULBS.     [JUNE. 

is  at  an  end ;  and  there  is,  as  we  have  just 
seen,  no  time  for  the  formation  of  the  flower 
and  the  roots  in  early  spring.  As  soon,  there- 
fore, as  the  tulip  or  hyacinth  has  blown,  new 
force  is  collected  from  the  sap  in  the  long 
green  leaves,  and  the  rudiments  of  the  flower 
and  leaf  for  the  next  year  are  formed  in  the 
heart  of  the  root,  where  they  lie  dormant 
through  the  winter.  If  then  you  cut  away  the 
growing  green  leaves,  you  destroy  the  means  of 
making  the  flower  and  leaves  for  the  next  year ; 
and  you  might  almost  as  well  at  once  root  up 
the  plant.  This  applies  to  crocuses,  lilies,  &c. 
You  must  not,  therefore,  in  your  taste  for 
neatness,  tear  away  any  green  leaves  of  bulbous 
roots,  or  your  future  prospects  of  bloom  will  be 
blighted.  If  you  wish  to  be  convinced  by  ex- 
periment, of  what  I  tell  you,  (as,  indeed,  you 
should  be,  in  all  things  relating  to  natural  histo- 


PIPINGS   OF    PINKS.  99 

ry,)  you  have  only  to  cut  in  two  a  hyacinth  root 
in  July,  and  you  will  then  see  the  rudiments  of 
the  leaves,  and  flower  already  formed  for  the 
succeeding  year. 

But  to  return  to  my  directions.  I  must 
advise  you  now  to  make  pipings  of  pinks,  if  you 
can  procure  any  good  sorts,  or  to  make  some, 
at  any  rate,  from  your  own ;  as  these  plants  re- 
quire to  be  renewed  annually,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve their  colours,  and  to  procure  fine  flowers. 

For  this  purpose,  dig  a  bed  of  rich  earth,  half 
a  foot  deep,  let  it  be  the  size  of  the  hand-glass 
you  intend  to  use,  and  sift  the  mould  through  a 
coarse  sieve ;  press  the  mould  firm,  and  set  the 
hand-glass  on  the  bed  to  make  a  mark,  that 
you  may  not  plant  any  of  the  pipings  be- 
yond where  the  edge  of  the  glass  comes ;  then 
take  the  slips  from  the  plants,  pare  a  little  bit 
off  at  the  hard  end,  and  cut  off  a  few  of  the 


100  CUTTINGS    AND    SLIPS.  [JUNE. 

bottom  leaves :  it  is  usual  also  to  cut  about  half 
an  inch  from  the  top  leaves;  but,  as  I  have 
shewn  that  plants  receive  nourishment  from 
their  leaves,  the  most  scientific  gardeners  con- 
sider it  wrong  to  do  so. 

After  this,  with  a  small  pointed  stick,  prick 
them  into  the  bed,  about  an  inch  apart ;  water 
them  gently,  but  well;  this  settles  the  earth 
round  the  part  in  the  ground,  tightly.  If  this 
were  not  done,  the  air  would  get  to  the  wound- 
ed part  of  the  plant,  dry  up  the  juices,  or  sap, 
and  prevent  the  formation  of  the  new  root. 
Then  put  on  the  hand-glass,  so  close  that  no 
air  can  get  in ;  let  them  have  strong  sun  heat, 
but  no  air  till  they  begin  to  grow :  water  them 
plentifully,  with  a  fine  nose  to  your  watering- 
pot,  and  they  will  strike  quickly. 

If  you  have  more  room  under  your  hand- 
glass than  you  require,  you  may  put  in  some 


PLANTING  OUT  PERENNIALS,  '&cV       101 

cuttings  of  China  and  moss  roses,  or  any  other 
kinds  of  roses  which  will  strike  at  the  same 
time.  Yet,  if  you  have  more  than  one  hand- 
glass, it  is*  better  to  keep  the  pinks  separate. 
Carnation  cuttings  will  strike  in  the  same  man- 
ner ;  and  so  will  scarlet  lychnis,  double  rockets, 
rose  campions,  double  wall-flowers,  sweet-wil- 
liams, and  Indian  pinks.  Slips  of  all  these 
plants  strike  better  than  cuttings:  by  slips,  I 
mean  the  small  branches  of  the  plants  slipped 
or  pulled  off  at  the  part  where  they  spring  from 
the  main  stems,  or  stronger  branches ;  in  all 
cases,  a  small  piece  should  be  cut  off  the  hard 
end  with  a  sharp  knife,  before  the  slip  is  put 
into  the  ground. 

You  will  find  much  trouble  now  in  keeping 
your  garden  as  neat  as  a  Dutchman's,  unless 
you  are  very  active  in  sticking  and  tying  up 
such  herbaceous  and  annual  plants  as  require 


102  PLANTING    OUT    PERENNIALS.        [JUNE. 

it;  and  in  cutting  off  old  flower  stems  and 
broken  shoots.  The  sweet  peas  should  have 
branching  supports,  and  the  convolvulus  major 
long  slender  poles  to  twine  round.  You  should 
now  plant  out  the  remainder  of  the  tender  an- 
nuals, or  they  will  not  have  time  to  grow  before 
the  season  forces  them  into  flower :  keep  them 
well  watered  till  they  have  taken  root. 

The  Canterbury  bells,  rockets,  and  all  the 
perennial  and  biennial  plants,  sown  in  the 
spring,  which  are  for  the  next  year's  stock, 
should  now  be  planted  in  beds,  at  about  six 
inches  from  each  other,  till  the  autumn,  when 
they  may  be  transplanted  into  the  borders. 

Bulbs,  lilies,  colchicums,  and  autumn  crocuses 
should  be  planted  about  the  end  of  this  month, 
to  flower  in  the  autumn.  Do  not  confound  the 
two  latter,  as  they  are  different  plants :  the  col- 
ehicum  is  often  called  autumn  crocus,  which  it  is 


PROPAGATING  CHRYSANTHEMUMS.       103 

not  in  reality.  The  stamens  of  the  flower  of 
the  real  autumn  crocus,  of  which  there  are  se- 
veral varieties,  produce  saffron ;  the  root  of  the 
colchicunr  is  used  in  medicine. 

You  ought  now  to  put  in  practice  the  instruc- 
tions I  gave  you  in  my  last  letter,  for  making 
cuttings,  as  June  is  reckoned  a  good  month  for 
striking  green-house  plants. 

Chrysanthemums  may  now  be  propagated  in 
various  ways :  the  most  simple  is,  to  take  off  a 
single  stem,  with  some  of  the  roots  adhering  to 
the  bit  pulled  off:  this  method  ensures  success : 
the  plants  require  only  to  be  potted  singly  in 
small  pots,  watered/and  placed  in  the  shade  till 
they  have  rooted;  but  it  is  considered,  that 
cuttings  make  the  handsomest  plants,  and  pro- 
duce most  flowers :  to  make  them,  about  five 
joints  should  be  cut  from  the  old  plant,  and 
set,  either  singly  in  thumb  pots,  or  several  in 


JUNE 


RUSTIC    FLOWER    STANDS. 


RUSTIC    FLOWER    BASKET.  105 

larger  pots :  they  must  be  put  in  a  frame,  or 
under  a  hand-glass,  till  they  have  struck,  when 
they  may  be  taken  out,  and  transplanted  into 
larger  pots. 

I  have  lately  been  employed  in  constructing 
a  very  pretty  ornament  for  a  corner  of  my 
garden;  and  as  you  may  make  one  yourself 
with  very  little  trouble,  I  will  explain  how  I 
set  about  it. 

The  main  part  is  merely  a  round,  flat  basket,  in 
which  some  plants  were  sent  from  a  nursery- 
man: this  is  set  on  four  short  stakes,  with  some 
crooked  pieces  of  wood  nailed  on  them,  as  rus- 
tic work,  in  the  same  way  as  the  rustic  seats  and 
tables  are  made :  these  branches  are  fixed  on, 
to  prevent  the  four  legs  having  a  formal  appear- 
ance :  the  inside  is  smeared  with  melted  pitch, 
to  prevent  its  rotting:  this,  however,  may  be 
dispensed  with,  as  the  basket  is  easily  re- 


106  RUSTIC    FLOWER    BASKET.  [JUNE. 

newed:  it  is  then  filled  with  fine  rich  mould, 
and  in  it  are  plunged  pots  of  all  sorts  of  tender 
annuals  and  green-house  plants. 

I  had  previously  made  some  holes  in  the 
sides  of  the  basket,  into  which  holes  I  intro- 
duced several  trailing  plants  and  creepers, 
which  look  extremely  pretty ;  some  peeping  out 
covered  with  different  coloured  flowers  ;  others 
twining  round  the  wicker-work;  and  others 
hanging  down,  and  in  some  places  touching  the 
ground.  To  manage  this  well,  I  found  it 
necessary,  when  the  basket  was  partly  filled 
with  mould,  to  open  the  wicker-work  a  little  in 
places;  and,  after  putting  the  plant  inside,  I 
drewr  it  through  the  hole,  leaving  the  roots  only 
in  the  basket,  which  I  then  continued  to  fill 
with  mould. 

The  plants  I  have  put  in  it  are,  first,  Calceo- 
laria rugosa,  of  which  I  sent  you  a  specimen ; 


LOBELIA   SIPHILITICA.      Blue  American  Lobelia. 


108  RUSTIC    FLOWER    BASKET.  [JUNE. 

Lobelia  splendens,  Mimulus  rivularis,  and  Se- 
nec4o  elegans,  or  purple  groundsel,  and  China 
asters ;  and  round  the  edge,  a  border  of 
hearts-ease,  of  different  colours.  The  earth  at 
the  top  of  the  basket  is  covered  with  moss, 
pegged  down,  so  as  to  conceal  the  pots  that 
the  plants  are  growing  in :  when  any  of  these 
go  out  of  bloom,  they  are  replaced  by  fresh 
pots. 

Very  pretty  tables  and  vases  are  constructed 
somewhat  in  this  manner :  I  shall  send,  in  my 
next  letter,  a  sketch,  which  I  lately  made  of 
some :  perhaps,  as  you  are  a  good  carpenter, 
you  may  contrive  to  make  one,  if  not  exactly 
like  it,  at  least  in  the  same  style. 

Out  of  the  sides  peep  Verbena  melindris,  the 
pretty  small  blue  Lobelia,  and  the  yellow 
nummularia,  or  moneywort,  which,  though  an 
English  weed,  and  found  in  any  wet  meadow, 


MANAGEMENT    OF    CARNATIONS.          109 

is  not  to  be  neglected,  since,  in  damp  shady 
places,  where  scarcely  any  other  plant  will 
grow,  it  creeps  upon  the  ground,  covering  it 
entirely  with  its  bright  green  leaves  in  the 
spring,  and  in  the  summer  with  its  golden 
flowers,  which  are  not  unlike  strings  of  gold 
eagles. 

You  see,  I  have  been  fully  employed  since  I 
wrote ;  besides,  I  have  had  much  work  to  do : 
my  box  edgings  have  been  clipped,  and  my 
gravel  has  been  weeded ;  this  is  very  necessa- 
ry, otherwise  the  seeds  of  the  weeds,  which 
spring  through  it,  if  allowed  to  ripen,  would  be 
scattered  all  over  the  garden. 

I  am  now  very  busy  tying  up  carnations; 
cutting  off  their  small  flower  buds,  in  order 
that  those  left  may  blossom  finer;  and  tying 
fine  bass  round  those  flower  pods  that  are 
rather  round  than  long,  to  prevent  their  burst- 


110  FLOWERS    IN    BLOSSOM.  [JUNE. 

4T 

ing:  and  this  I  do  to  my  fine  pinks.  I  also  slit 
the  flower  cup  a  little  lengthwise,  at  every 
notch,  to  make  it  open  evenly,  and  form  a  fine 
round  flower.  My  garden  now  fully  repays 
me  for  all  my  trouble :  it  is  extremely  gay,  the 
roses  are  beginning  to  flower. 

The  Phlox  ovata,  the  Iris  Germanica,  (or 
common  blue  iris,)  the  Papaver  Orientale,  (or 
fine  scarlet  herbaceous  poppy,)  the  Fumaria 
nobilis,  the  Geum  coccineum,  (or  avens,)  a 
beautiful  new  plant,  but  now  getting  common; 
the  double  and  single  yellow  Welsh  poppy,  and 
a  very  pretty  blue  flower,  called  Lithospermum 
Orientale,  are  among  those  in  blossom  at  pre- 
sent, in  my  common  borders,  which  I  most 
admire. 

The  border  is  still  more  shewy  than  it  was 
last  month,  as  the  azaleas  and  rhododendrons 
are  in  full  bloom :  there  is,  besides,  in  flower  in 


BROMPTON    STOCKS.  Ill 

it,  a  rare  little  plant,  the  Rubus  arcticus :  this 
plant  bears  a  small  pink  flower,  resembling  that 
of  the  common  blackberry,  to  which  family  it 
belongs ;  and  though,  in  appearance,  like  a 
blackberry,  it  is  very  delicious  to  eat. 

I  had  nearly  ended  my  letter,  without  giving 
you  a  valuable  piece  of  information,  which  is, 
that  you  must  not  fail  to  sow,  in  an  eastern 
border,  and  in  fine  sifted  mould,  some  Bromp- 
ton  stock  seed,  to  have  plants  which  will  flower 
next  spring ;  if  you  can  put  a  hand-glass  over 
the  seeds  till  they  come  up,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter ;  after  they  are  up,  take  off  the  glass. 

I  should  have  been  sorry  if  I  had  forgotten 
this;  because,  next  year,  owing  to  my  care- 
lessness, you  wrould  have  been  without  stock 
plants,  for  these  are  to  be  kept  through  the 
winter,  to  flower  in  the  spring.  I  must  not  be 
vSO  careless  of  your  interests  in  future.  I  fear,  I 


112  BROMPTOJN    STOCKS.  [JUNE. 

am  often  led  away,  by  a  desire  to  talk  of  my 
own  garden,  from  subjects  which  are  of  more 
interest  and  consequence  to  yours. 

Ever  your  sincere  friend, 

G. 


JULY. 


ARRANGING    THE    NOSEGAY. 


NEATNESS   AND   ORDER.  115 


LETTER  VII. 

July  7. 

You  are  now,  I  suppose,  enjoying  the  fruits 
of  your  industry,  and  your  garden  is  brilliant 
with  flowers.  Without  meaning  to  moralize  in 
any  great  degree,  on  the  subject  of  labour 
sweetening  pleasure,  I  think  what  I  have  before 
written  and  so  often  told  you,  now  comes  con- 
vincingly on  your  mind.  Until  you  had  yourself 
reared  plants,  learned  the  means  of  doing  so, 
saw  when  you  failed,  and  found  out  the  reason 
why  you  did  so,  the  pleasure  you  enjoyed  in 
the  mere  looking  at  a  flower,  when  little  else 
than  its  freshness,  its  scent,  and  its  beauty, 
pleased,  was  very  different  from  that  which  you 
now  feel  in  regarding  those  which  you  have 
raised  yourself. 


116  NEATNESS   AND   ORDER.  [JULY 

I  never  meant  to  persuade  you  that  garden- 
ing is  the  most  important  of  occupations,  nor 
that  the  lessons  you  are  to  learn  from  it  are  of 
such  consequence,  that  nothing  else  is  to  be 
sought  after;  yet,  as  we  must  all  have  amuse- 
ments, I  think  few  will  deny  that  gardening  is 
one  of  the  most  rational.  It  conduces  to  health, 
gives  pain  to  no  living  thing,  and,  without  any 
very  great  exaggeration  of  its  merit  and  praise, 
you  may,  by  devoting  your  play  hours  to  your 
garden,  learn  things  that  may  be  useful  here- 
after. 

As  I  have  got  into  a  moralizing  strain,  let  me 
impress  on  you  the  value  of  a  habit  of  keeping 
all  things  neat,  and  in  due  order.  The  advan- 
tage of  so  doing  will  be  considerable ;  the 
neglect  of  it  must  prove  fatal,  as  well  to  your 
garden,  as  to  whatever  else  you  may  engage 
in.  I  could  write  you  a  long  letter  on  this 


ARRANGEMENT    OF    DUTIES.  117 

subject ;  having  myself  experienced  the  value 
of  this  habit,  it  will  give  me  pleasure  to  point 
out  to  you  all  its  advantages,  in  the  hope  that 
you  may  be  induced,  even  in  early  life,  to  adopt 
maxims  of  arrangement  and  order,  both  in 
thinking  and  acting. 

You  cannot  hope  to  succeed  in  your  garden, 
nor  indeed  in  any  other  occupation,  without 
reflection, — without  really  and  fairly  attending 
to  whatever  you  undertake,  or  plan;  and  if  you 
once  acquire  this  habit  with  regard  to  your 
garden,  it  will  extend  to  the  rest  of  your  duties 
and  occupations.  The  consequences  will  be, 
facility  of  action,  even  under  embarrassing  cir- 
cumstances; time  always  at  your  disposal;  your 
mind  free  from  anxious  perplexities,  such  as 
beset  persons  who  have  no  determined  plan  of 
action;  and  that  respect  and  consideration  in 
the  world,  which  punctuality  and  decision  of 


118  FLOWERS   IN    BLOOM.  [JULY. 

character  never  fail  to  command.  But,  lest 
you  should  begin  to  doubt  whether  I  am  writing* 
a  discourse  on  ethics,  or  an  epistle  on  horticul- 
ture, I  must  return  to  your  garden  and  to  mine. 
Among  the  gayest  things  which  your  garden 
boasts  of,  I  suppose  the  common  annuals,  sown 
in  the  spring,  are  not  the  least  showry.  I  know 
not  what  you  may  have  besides  these  in  flower; 
but,  in  addition  to  my  roses,  some  of  which  are 
still  in  bloom,  I  have,  among  the  herbaceous 
plants,  Phlox  stolonifera  and  Phlox  am&na; 
Spigelia  Marylandica,  or  pink  root ;  the  white, 
the  blue,  and  the  purple  Tradescantia  Virgini- 
ana,  or  spider  wort ;  Dianthus  superbus,  whose 
pretty  lilac  flowers  are  deliciously  swreet ; 
Campanula  Carpatica,  which  I  consider  one  of 
the  most  splendid  of  a  very  handsome  tribe  of 
flowers,  (the  bell  flowers,)  Hemerocallis  caru- 
lea,  Chinese  day  lily,  Jlnchusa  Italica,  or 


HEMEROCALLIS    CJERULEA.     Chinese  Day  Lily. 


120  CARNATIONS.  [JULY. 

buglos,  Lobelia  siphilitica,  which  is  singular 
from  its  colour,  and  many  others,  too  numerous 
for  detail :  all,  however,  making  a  mass  of 
colour,  and  a  show,  which,  I  consider,  puts  me 
high  among  young  gardeners. 

It  is  in  July,  that  I  always  lay  such  carnations 
as  I  wish  to  increase.  I  grow  none  that  are 
very  tender ;  but  I  have  a  great  many  showy 
border  carnations,  which  I  have  raised  chiefly 
from  seed  5  these  remain  in  the  ground  all  the 
winter  through.  I  have  occasionally  potted  a 
few  layers!1,  to  blow  in  pots ;  but  they  require 
such  constant  attention,  that,  unless  you  can 
devote  much  time  to  them,  and  have,  besides, 
very  fine  varieties,  they  are  not  worth  the 
trouble. 

The  manner  in  which  you  must  set  about 
making  these  layers  is  as  follows :  clean  away 
all  weeds  and  litter  from  the  roots  of  the  plants 


LAYING    CARNATIONS.  121 

to  be  laid,  and  spread  fine  mould,  about  two 
inches  thick,  round  them,  that  it  may  be  ready 
for  the  young  roots  to  grow  in:  have  some 
small  pegs,  made  from  fejn  stalks,  or  small 
branches  of  trees ;  cut  off  a  few  leaves  from 
the  lower  part  of  the  shoot,  and  take  about  an 
inch  off  those  at  the  top  of  it;  then,  with  a  very 
sharp  knife,  cut  a  slit  half  through  the  shoot 
between  two  joints,  at  about  the  middle  of  it, 
turning  the  sharp  edge  of  the  knifc*  up  wards; 
cut  the  slit  through  the  first  joint  to  the  middle 
between  it  and  the  one  above  it ;  then  make  a 
hollow  in  the  mould,  bend  down  the  cut  part 
of  the  shoot,  peg  it  to  the  ground  with  its  head 
up,  and  cover  the  slit  part  with  about  half  an 
inch  of  mould.  You  may  lay  as  many  shoots 
as  you  like,  and  as  are  fit,  in  this  way ;  the  only 
thing  to  be  avoided,  is  taking  such  as  have 
begun  to  send  out  side  shoots,  for  they  will 

not  strike. 

L 


122  PROPAGATING    BY    LAYERS.          [JULY. 

You  will  see  the  reason  of  this  process :  you 
create  a  wound  at  a  joint;  and  where  plants 
are  wounded,  many  have  a  tendency  to  make 
roots  when  covered  with  earth:  so  far  this 
process  is  the  same  as  that  which  takes  place 
in  a  cutting,  except  that  the  cutting  is  entirely 
separated  from  the  parent  plant. 

There  are  some  plants,  however,  which  will 
not  send  out  roots  when  entirely  separated, 
yet  will  strike  when  a  wound  is  made,  and  the 
communication  and  circulation  are  kept  up  with 
the  parent  plant.  This  is  called  propagating 
by  layers. 

In  many  cases,  plants  will  strike  both  from 
cuttings  and  layers;  but  the  latter  are  more 
certain,  because  of  the  communication  between 
the  old  plant,  which  keeps  alive  the  half  sepa- 
rated cutting  until  it  has  formed  new  roots  on 
the  part  divided*  after  which,  the  layer  be- 


VARIETIES    OF    CARNATIONS.  123 

comes  a  new  plant,  nourished  from  its  own 
resources,  and  may  be  safely  separated,  either 
by  transplanting  to  a  bed,  or  by  potting.  This 
may  be  Hone  in  the  autumn  or  in  the  spring. 

If  you  do  not  understand  these  directions, 
or  consider  the  operation  of  laying  too  trouble- 
some, you  may  raise  carnations  by  pipings,  in 
the  same  manner  as  you  would  pinks;  but 
they  do  not  strike  so  freely  as  the  layers,  and 
the  plants  are  much  weaker,  because  they  are 
longer  in  perfecting  strong  roots. 

There  are  many  varieties  of  carnations : 
florists  have  divided  them  into  Picotees,  Painted 
Ladies,  Bizarres,  and  Flakes. 

The  flowers  of  the  Picotees  have  a  white 
or  yellow  ground,  and  their  edges  are  fringed 
or  jagged,  and  spotted  with  scarlet,  red,  purple, 
or  other  colours. 

The  petals,  or  leaves  of  the  flowers,  of  the 


124         MANAGEMENT    OF   CARNATIONS.      [JULY. 

Painted  Ladies,  are  coloured  on  the  upper 
side  only,  and  white  beneath. 

The  Bizarres  are  striped  with  three  or  more 
colours;  while  the  Flakes  are  of  two  colours 
only. 

The  edges  of  the  petals  of  all  except  the 
Picotees,  to  be  perfect,  should  be  round  and 
smooth.  Carnations  with  round  pods  are  apt 
to  burst:  to  prevent  wrhich,  they  should  be 
tied  round  with  a  thin  bit  of  bass,  and  slit  a 
little  at  every  notch,  in  the  same  manner  as  I 
directed  with  respect  to  pinks.  It  is  usual  also, 
to  cut  circular  pieces  of  card,  about  two  or 
three  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  hole  in  the 
middle,  of  the  size  of  the  bud,  to  receive  the 
lower  part  of  the  petals,  just  belowT  the  notch- 
es of  the  cup:  a  slit  is  cut  on  one  side,  to 
allow  the  petals  to  expand  as  much  as  possible. 
This  is  put  on  before  the  flower  opens. 

You  must  pay  great  attention  now  to  weed- 


SEEDS   OF   SPRING   FLOWERS.  125 

mg,  sweeping,  tying  up  flower  stems,  and 
cutting  down  such  as  are  out  of  bloom  and 
decayed.  No  garden  can  appear  neat,  in 
which  these  little  things  are  not  attended  to. 

The  seeds  of  some  of  your  spring  flowers 
are  now  ripe ;  therefore  gather  those  you  wish 
to  save,  and,  after  drying  them  in  the  air,  clean 
them  from  dirt,  and  put  them  away  in  small 
bags,  or  packets :  it  is  better  not  to  take  the 
seeds  out  of  the  seed  pods,  as  they  keep  much 
better  in  them,  (or,  rather,  do  not  dry  too 
much;)  but  they  should  be  picked  from  the 
stalks,  otherwise  they  take  up  too  much  room. 

My  carnations  now  occupy  the  greatest  part 
of  my  time :  wrhat  with  laying  some,  and  at- 
tending to  those  that  are  coming  into  bloom, 
I  am  fully  employed.  The  laying,  you  will 
find,  is  rather  slow  work  as  it  must  be  done 
with  great  nicety. 


126  PRESERVED    CARNATIONS  [JULY. 

While  writing  on  the  subject  of  carnations, 
I  must  tell  you  of  a  plan,  adopted  by  a  gentle- 
man who  is  passionately  fond  of  this  flower,  in 
order  to  shew,  at  any  time  of  the  year,  speci- 
mens of  the  varieties  he  possesses.  When 
they  are  in  full  bloom,  he  chooses  from  each 
the  handsomest  petal,  and  gums  it  down  on 
the  leaf  of  a  blank  book  kept  for  this  purpose; 
afterwards,  he  covers  over  the  petal  itself  with 
gum,  which  preserves  its  colour;  opposite  to 
each  petal  is  the  name  of  the  flower,  or  num- 
ber of  the  pot,  from  which  it  was  taken;  so 
that  when,  at  any  season,  he  gives  his  friends 
cuttings  or  plants,  he  can  shew  them,  at  the 
same  time,  the  kinds  they  are  taken  from. 

You  may  still  continue  to  raise  all  sorts  of 
green-house  plants  from  cuttings,  likewise 
sweet-williams,  pinks,  &c.,  though  it  is  better 
to  do  this  earlier.  The  pinks  and  carnations, 


CAUTION  IN  WATERING.  127 

that  have  been  raised  from  seed  last  year,  will 
blow  about  this  time;  and  such  as  are  not 
worth  preserving  ought  to  be  rooted  up  whilst 
you  can  distinguish  them.  Any  shoots  of  the 
good  ones,  that  are  fit,  may  be  laid. 

I  need  not,  I  think,  repeat  every  month  my  in- 
structions concerning  watering  (in  dry  weather) 
those  seedlings,  or  newly  planted  roots,  that 
may  require  it.  You  will  always  be  the  best 
judge  yourself  of  what  absolutely  wants  water; 
and  I  need  only  caution  you  not  to  give  too 
much,  especially  where  the  soil  is  strong,  or 
close,  as  over  watering  will  occasion  the  plants 
to  grow  too  much,  and  thereby  exhaust  their 
strength  in  leaves ;  in  which  case  the  flowers 
will  be  but  poor  and  few. 

You  must  continue  to  take  up  such  bulbous 
roots  as  have  lost  their  leaves,  and  put  them 
away  till  the  time  for  replanting  arrives. 


128  STANDARD   ROSE-TREES.  [JULY. 

•  Crown  imperials,  martagons,  and  red  lilies, 
should  not  be  long  out  of  the  ground,  and  may 
be  moved  now,  if  you  wish  to  do  so. 

I  think  you  must  have  seen  and  admired  the 
standard  rose-trees,  which,  of  late  years,  it  has 
been  the  fashion  to  plant  in  most  flower  gar- 
dens, on  lawns,  and  even  in  shrubberies :  they 
are  themselves  so  formal  that  they  are  a  great 
addition  to  a  Dutch  flower  garden.  As  their 
price  is  rather  high,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
inform  you  how  they  are  made  to  grow  in  this 
manner ;  and  as  this  is  the  season  for  budding 
roses,  you  may  perhaps  be  tempted  to  try  your 
skill. 

The  best  mode  of  making  standard  roses  is, 
to  dig  up  some  strong  plants  of  the  common 
rose,  and  cutting  away  all  side  shoots,  le&ve 
one  stem :  this  may  be  done  early  in  the  au- 
tumn, or  in  the  summer,  from  the  end  of  July 


STANDARD  ROSE-TREES.  129 

till  August.  At  about  the  height  you  desire 
your  tree  to  be,  you  must  insert  in  the  stem, 
two  or  more  buds  of  such  roses  as  you  wish  to 
grow  on  the  standard. 

This  operation  of  budding,  which  is  very 
simple,  consists  in  taking  one  of  the  buds  when 
completely  formed,  together  with  a  piece  of  the 
bark  attached  to  it,  and  after  cutting  a  slit  in 
the  bark  of  the  standard,  or  stock,  as  it  is 
termed,  putting  the  bud  into  the  slit.  This  is 
done  by  slightly  raising  up  the  bark  on  each 
side  of  the  slit,  then  pressing  the  inserted  bud 
down  in  the  place  of  the  bark  you  have  raised, 
and  tying  a  piece  of  wet  bass  round  the  stem, 
so  as  to  keep  the  bud  in  its  place,  and  exclude 
the  air  from  the  wound. 

The  circulation  of  the  sap  enters  into  the 
bud,  just  as  it  did  into  the  bark  of  the  parent 
stem;  and,  in  the  following  spring,  the  bud  ^ ill 


130  VEGETABLE  PHYSIOLOGY.  [JULY. 

shoot  out,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  other 
buds  of  the  plant.  You  must,  however,  cut 
away  all  the  branches,  except  those  in  which 
you  have  inserted  buds,  and  shorten  the  ends 
of  these  ;  you  will  have,  in  a  short  time,  a  large 
rose-tree,  the  stem  of  which  is  a  common  red 
rose,  while  the  branches  consist  of  shoots  from 
the  buds  of  all  other  sorts  you  have  inserted. 
I  do  not  hope  that  you  can  actually  perform 
budding  from  this  description :  I  have  merely 
stated  the  general  process.  Ten  minutes'  prac- 
tice, under  the  direction  of  a  gardener,  will 
enable  you  to  perform  the  operation,  which, 
though  it  requires  care  and  neatness,  is  very 
simple. 

I  should  here  call  your  attention  to  the  study 
of  vegetable  physiology ;  for,  without  some 
idea  of  this,  you  will  not  understand  why  the 
l,  so  inserted,  should  grow,  or  why,  having 


VEGETABLE   PHYSIOLOGY.  131 

once  discovered  that  it  will  grow,  you  may  not 
insert  a  rose-bud  into  the  bark  of  an  oak,  with 
an  equal  chance  of  success.  This  subject  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  you  to  understand,  if 
you  wish  to  become  a  good  gardener,  and  to 
reap  all  the  instruction  and  amusement  which 
is  to  be  derived  from  attending  to  your  own 
garden.  But  it  is  too  long  for  this  present 
letter,  and  I  must  defer  my  intention  to  some 
other  opportunity. 

G. 


132  THE   TREE-CARNATION.  [AUG. 


LETTER    VIII. 

August  3. 

I  FORGOT,  when  writing  on  the  subject  of 
carnations,  to  remind  you  of  the  tree-carnation, 
which  is  a  very  desirable  plant,  and  has  the 
merit  of  being  hardier,  and  of  blowing  longer, 
than  any  other  variety.  Planted  and  trained 
against  a  wall,  it  will  begin  to  blow  in  June, 
and  continue  to  do  so  sometimes  even  after  the 
early  frosts  have  set  in;  potted  and  put  in  a 
frame,  it  will  flower  till  Christmas.  Should  you 
be  able  to  obtain  cuttings  of  this  plant,  they 
will  strike  under  a  hand-glass.  I  think  you  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  procuring  them,  as  it  is  a 
flower  the  cottagers  appear  to  be  very  fond  of; 
for  I  often  see  it  blossoming  very  finely  against 
their  houses. 


ARTISANS    FLORISTS.  133 

Many  of  the  poor,  at  least  the  most  industri- 
ous and  meritorious  of  the  poor,  are  passionate- 
ly fond  of  flowers;  and  I  have  always  found 
them  much  pleased  when  asked  for  cuttings  of 
any  favourite  plant.  This  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  doing,  when  I  see  they  have  enough;  be- 
cause I  always  have  it  in  my  power  to  make 
them  some  return,  and  because,  also,  I  hope 
that  noticing  and  admiring  their  little  gardens, 
may  induce  them  to  continue  so  simple  and 
innocent  an  amusement,  and  to  pass  those  few 
hours  which  they  can  spare  from  labour,  in  the 
midst  of  their  families,  rather  than  in  idleness 
or  at  the  tavern. 

It  is  remarked  that  those  labourers  whose 
employments  are  most  sedentary,  such  as 
weavers,  &c.,  are  also  more  particularly  fond 
of  growing  plants,  and  are,  in  fact,  great  florists. 
The  Spitalfields  weavers,  it  is  said,  have  small 


134  ARTISANS    FLORISTS.  [AUG. 

gardens  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bethnal  Green, 
where  they  cultivate  auriculas,  tulips,  &,c.    The 
Manchester  and  Birmingham  weavers  are  cele 
brated  for  their  auriculas. 

These  flowers  are,  in  many  cases',  a  matter 
of  profit  as  well  as  amusement  to  the  cultiva- 
tors. Florists  have  instituted  societies,  or 
meetings,  at  which  they  adjudge  prizes  to 
those  who  produce  the  finest  flowers;  they 
also  sell  at  high  prices  any  new  and  very  fine 
variety  they  may  have  raised.  Should  you 
visit  Lowell,  our  great  manufacturing  town, 
you  will  observe  flower-pots  in  many  of  the 
factory  windows,  showing  that  the  love  of  nature 
is  cherished,  in  the  midst  of  the  din  and  dust. 

I  have  so  often  spoken  of  florists,  that  I  think 
I  ought  to  explain  what  is  meant  by  the  word, 
lest  you  should  confound  it  with  the  terms 
gardener  and  botanist,  which  have  very  diffe- 
rent significations. 


THE   FLORIST.  135 

A  gardener  I  define  as  one  generally  fond  of, 
and  conversant  in  gardening — who  indiscrimi- 
nately grows  all  plants  which  come  in  his  way, 
and  which  his  space  and  means  allow  him  to 
cultivate. 

A  florist  is  one  who  confines  his  attention  to 
the  particular  cultivation  of  some  two  or  three 
plants ;  carnations,  pinks,  tulips,  hyacinths, 
auriculas,  and  ranunculuses,  are  the  principal 
flowers :  and  these  are  well  selected,  for  three 
reasons:  they  are  all  beautiful;  they  all  run 
into  numerous  varieties,  so  that  every  grower  is 
continually  raising  something  new ;  and  they 
are  flowers  which  improve,  perhaps,  more  than 
any  others,  by  great  care  and  cultivation. 

The  same  tulip,  or  auricula,  grown  one  sea- 
son, without  more  than  the  ordinary  care  of  a 
general  gardener,  and  grown  the  next  with  all 
the  care  bestowed  by  a  professed  florist,  will 


AUGUST. 


GARDEN    SPORTS. 


FLORISTS'   FLOWERS.  13? 

be  so  different,  that  you  can  hardly  imagine  it 
to  be  the  same. 

Minute  attention  to  the  soil,  to  the  time  of 
planting,  to  the  watering,  to  the  shading,  all 
conduce  much  to  the  improvement  of  the 
flower. 

Dahlias  and  geraniums  are  now  also  begin- 
ning to  be  considered  as  florists'  flowers,  and 
they  come  very  well  within  the  class. 

I  do  not  advise  you,  however,  to  be  a  florist : 
there  is  but  little  variety  in  his  garden :  prover- 
bially speaking/  «his  eggs  are  all  in  one 
basket :"  the  wire-worm,  a  swarm  of  earwigs, 
or  a  storm  of  hail,  may  destroy  the  hope  and 
beauty  of  a  whole  year,  at  the  moment  wrhen 
he  expects  to  reap  the  reward  of  his  care. 
Besides,  a  florist's  views  being  confined,  his 
notions  of  excellence  become  very  refined,  and 
often  fantastical.  Great  importance  is  attached 
M 


138  THE  BOTANIST.  [AUG. 

to  the  shape  and  colour  of  a  flower,  that  has 
but  little  to  do  with  its  general  beauty,  and 
depends  chiefly  on  its  rarity :  add  to  this,  the 
best  flowers  of  each  class  are  often  very  dear, 
from  their  scarceness,  and  the  great  demand 
for  them. 

A  botanist,  again,  is  totally  different  from 
both  a  florist  and  gardener,  though  the  two  are 
often  confounded  by  people  who  ought  to 
know  better  than  to  use  wrong  terms.  One  of 
the  Misses  M.  whom  you  may  remember  hav- 
ing seen  here,  said,  the  other  day,  while  walking 
in  my  garden,  that  she  was  not  aware  I  was  a 
florist ;  and,  in  two  minutes  after,  her  mother 
praised  the  beauty  of  my  pinks  and  roses,  was 
glad  to  see  I  was  such  a  good  botanist,  and 
wished  her  daughters  might  become  equally 
learned :  she  was  sure,  it  was  not  for  want  of 
books,  for  they  had  all  the  best  books  on 
botany  at  home. 


BOTANY.  139 

Now,  if  the  young  ladies  should  ever  take 
the  trouble  to  grow  pinks  and  roses,  to  please 
their  mamma,  and  look  into  all  their  "best 
books  on  botany  at  home,"  I  suspect  they  will 
find  nothing  about  the  matter  in  them.  I  hope, 
however,  that  you  will  be  a  botanist  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  as  it  adds  much  to  the  interest  of 
gardening.  Many  of  the  best  gardeners  are 
botanists. 

Botany  is  the  science  of  distinguishing  and 
classing  plants,  according  to  their  peculiar 
characteristics;  and  affords  the  means  of  re- 
cognizing the  marks  whereby  each  individual 
species  may  be  known  from  another.  I  cannot 
here  enter  into  the  whole  scope  of  the  science ; 
you  will  find  enough  to  satisfy  you  on  the  sub- 
ject, if  you  look  into  one  of  the  dictionaries  or 
encyclopaedias  which  you  have  at  home.  You 
will  there  see  how  important  it  is  to  be  able  to 


140  BOTANY.  [AUG. 

class  and  name  plants  with  such  certainty,  that 
on  seeing  a  plant  you  may  discover,  by  its  cha- 
racter, under  what  class  it  is  arranged,  and  by 
what  name  it  is  called. 

Consider,  even  in  the  case  of  these  letters, 
what  facilities  this  science  has  afforded.  I  have 
been  able,  in  two  words,  to  point  out,  with  cer- 
tainty, the  plant  I  mean.  I  tell  you  the  name 
of  the  family,  or,  I  should  call  it,  genus,  to  which 
a  plant  belongs — say,  a  tulip,  which  is  the 
genus ;  and  as  there  are  many  sorts  of  tulips, 
I  add  another  name,  which  designates  the  par- 
ticular sort  of  tulip.  Now,  by  referring  to  any 
botanical  book,  which  contains  the  description 
of  the  genus  tulip,  you  will  see  whether  the 
flower  you  fancy  to  be  a  tulip,  agrees  with  it : 
if  it  does  so,  you  have  gained  one  step  towards 
ascertaining  the  true  name  of  your  plant.  But, 
as  you  find  by  your  book  that  there  are  n^any 


UTILITY    OP   BOTANY.  141 

sorts  of  tulips,  you  examine  the  plant,  and  read 
the  descriptions  of  the  different  kinds,  until  you 
find  one  that  corresponds  with  your  flower,  and 
then  you  have  both  genus  and  species. 

Now,  if  this  sort  of  character  had  not  been 
applied  to  this  particular  plant,  and  I  wanted  to 
describe  it  to  you,  what  difficulty  should  I  have 
found  in  making  you  understand,  by  letter,  that 
one  I  wished  to  describe!  Try  yourself  to 
write  such  a  description  of  a  plant,  as  shall  give 
every  one  who  reads  it  a  true  notion  of  what 
you  intend  to  speak  of;  distinguish  it  from  all 
others  in  colour  and  shape,  both  of  leaves, 
flower,  mode,  and  time  of  growing. 

The  time  which  you  would  find  that  this 
would  take,  would  be  almost  endless  ;  besides, 
the  talent  and  powers  of  remark  which  would 
be  required,  both  in  the  describer  and  the 
reader,  would  be  considerable. 


142  PROVINCE    OP   BOTANY.  [AUG. 

Botany  is  a  new  science.  In  ancient  times, 
there  were  no  such  divisions  of  plants,  and, 
therefore,  none  or  few  of  those  described  in  the 
works  of  old  authors,  can  be  with  any  certainty 
known. 

The  mode  of  dividing  plants  into  classes,  is 
done  by  taking  some  particular  parts  of  the 
flowers  as  characters,  and  all  that  answer  in 
that  respect,  are  ranged  under  the  same  class ; 
thus  you  will  find  what  are  termed  the  anthers, 
always  of  the  same  number  in  a  tulip,  and  this 
is  made  to  form  one  of  the  signs,  or  marks,  of 
the  family ;  and  it  is  by  knowing  thoroughly 
these  signs,  or  marks,  that  a  botanist  is  able  at 
once  to  distinguish  any  flower. 

Suppose,  therefore,  a  person  wishes  to  tell 
you  all  the  flowers  he  finds  growing  on  the 
Alps,  and  he  sends  you  a  list  of  three  hundred 
names  of  the  different  genera,  adding  to  the 


LAYERS    OF    CARNATIONS.  143 

name  of  the  family  or  genus  of  each,  what  is 
termed  the  specific  name,  to  shew  which  particu- 
lar kind  belonging  to  the  genus  is  intended. 
Thus,  on  half  a  page,  he  can  tell  with  certainty, 
all  the  plants  he  wishes  to  describe;  and 
although  you  do  not  yourself  know  them,  yet,  by 
referring  to  some  botanical  work,  you  are  made 
acquainted  with  their  history,  habits,  &,c. ;  but 
if  these  means  had  not  existed,  what  difficulties 
would  there  not  have  been  in  describing  each 
particular  plant !  Indeed,  nothing  short  gf  an 
actual  picture  would  be  sufficient. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  not  con- 
tent with  growing  plants  only,  but  determine  to 
know  them  scientifically,  and  also  their  uses 
and  properties.  The  first  book  on  botany  you 
look  into  will  shew  you  how  imperfect  is  my 
description  of  the  science. 

I   have  made  a  long  digression,  but,  I  trust. 


144  LAYERS    OF    CARNATIONS.  [AUG. 

not  an  uninteresting  one.    I  now  continue  my 
directions  concerning  carnations. 

If  you  have  not  laid  as  many  as  are  wanted, 
or  if  those  which  are  laid  have  not  taken  root, 
you  may  continue  to  lay  them  during  the 
beginning  of  this  month ;  but  it  is  not  advisable 
that  this  should  be  delayed  till  August,  for, 
unless  the  weather  be  very  favourable,  these 
layers  will  not  have  time  to  make  strong  roots 
before  winter  comes.  The  stems  of  such  as 
have  done  flowering  should  be  cut  off  close  to 
the  roots,  and  the  sam&  may  be  done  by  the 
rooted  layers  which  you  intend  to  pot  and  keep 
in  frames  during  the  winter.  After  they  are 
potted  in  fine,  rich,  light,  vegetable  mould,  with 
a  small  quantity  of  loam,  they  must  be  set  in 
a  frame  and  watered.  During  the  hot  days, 
they  ought  to  be  shaded  from  the  sun,  and 
allowed  no  air  till  they  have  rooted,  which  you 


CARNATION   LAYERS.  145 

will  know  by  their  leaves  becoming  erect;  after 
which,  give  them  air,  by  degrees,  till  you  can 
venture  to  take  the  glass  quite  off. 

I  have  told  you  what  to  do,  but  it  is  not  my 
practice  to  pot  all  my  layers ;  though-I  gene- 
rally keep  a  few  carnations  in  pots,  lest  a  very 
severe  or  wet  winter  should  destroy  those  left 
out  in  the  borders.  I  therefore  take  off  half  my 
layers  when  they  have  rooted,  and  set  them  in 
a  bed  as  I  do  pinks,  and  protect  them  during 
the  frosty  and  wet  weather  with  hoops  and  a 
mat,  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have  before 
directed ;  the  other  half  I  leave  on  the  parent 
plant,  and  in  the  spring  transplant  them  into 
the  borders. 

You  may  lay  Indian  pinks,  sweet-williams,  or 
any   plants   of  a    like    natuie.    Indian  pinks, 
however,  are  rather  tender,  irid  do  not  so  well 
stand  a  hard,  or  wet  winter. 
10  N 


146         MANAGEMENT  OF   CUTTINGS,  &c.       [AUG. 

I  have  talked  about  shading  weak  plants  from 
the  sun,  and  excluding  air  from  cuttings,  &,c., 
without,  however,  telling  you  the  reason ;  and 
so  far  I  have  erred :  for,  when  you  learn  the 
reason,  you  will  know  when  you  ought  to 
do  so. 

The  sun  and  air  dry  up  the  sap  or  moisture 
of  plants,  and  if  a  plant  be  weak,  (which  it  is 
when  transplanted,  because  the  roots,  being 
disturbed,  and  many  of  the  small  fibres  injured, 
it  cannot  exercise  the  office  of  collecting  new 
sap  or  nourishment,)  then  the  object  is  to  save 
as  much  of  the  nourishment  in  the  plant  from 
being  exhausted  as  possible,  by  keeping  away 
the  sun  and  air  until  it  is  in  a  state  to  furnish  a 
full  supply  of  sap. 

The  same  observation  applies  to  a  cutting 
which  has  no  roots:  here  it  is  material,  except 
in  the  case  of  very  freely  striking  or  rooting 


MANAGEMENT   OP   CUTTINGS,    &c.          147 

plants,  to  keep  all  the  sap  in  the  plant  until 
new  roots  are  formed  to  supply  it  with  more  • 
and  hence  the  reason  of  putting  cuttings  under 
a  glass,  which  excludes  the  air ;  but,  whenever 
the  roots  are  formed,  the  glasses  should  be 
removed,  as,  by  excluding  the  air,  little  sap  is 
exhausted,  the  roots  are  not  called  on  to  supply 
much,  and  therefore  (Jo  not  grow;  and  the 
plant  dwindles  away. 

Try  this,  and  be  convinced;  one  failure,  with 
the  cause  of  it  found  out,  will  often  teach  more 
than  twenty  successful  experiments.  Adversity 
and  misfortune,  in  all  things,  are  good,  though 
hard  mistresses. 

If  you  have  any  wish  to  raise  bulbous  roots 
from  seeds,  these  should  now  be  sown  in  pots 
or  boxes ;  but  it  will  be  so  long  before  these 
seedlings  come  to  perfection,  even  with  great 
experience  and  care,  that  I  should  advise  you 


148  THE    TIGER   FLOWER.  [AUG. 

to  procure  offsets  of  crown-imperials,  martagon 
lilies,  irises,  and  others  of  this  description: 
paeonies,  also,  should  be  planted  now. 

I  shall  send,  when  I  take  them  up,  bulbs  of 
the  magnificent  Ferraria  tigridia,  (tiger  flower,) 
which  I  have  succeeded  in  raising  from  seed  so 
well,  that  I  had  this  year  a  large  bed  of  flow- 
ering plants  of  my  own  raising.  Its  flower  is, 
in  my  opinion,  the  handsomest  among  the  bul- 
bous-rooted, but,  unfortunately,  it  is  also  the 
shortest  lived ;  though  it  compensates  for  this, 
in  some  measure,  by  producing  daily,  for  nearly 
three  months,  new  flowers.  I  shall  send,  also, 
one  bulb  of  a  very  handsome  yellow  variety  of 
this  plant,  which  is  called  Ferraria  conchiflora. 
I  send,  likewise,  the  arethusa  bulbosa;  it  flowr- 
ers  in  June,  and  has  an  elegant  purple  flower. 

You  may  begin  now  to  transplant  and  propa- 
gate most  sorts  of  herbaceous  roots,  by  dividing 


CAUTIONS    IN    TRANSPLANTING.  149 

them,  or  by  slipping  off  pieces  of  the  plant, 
which  may  be  either  potted  or  planted  in  the 
borders.  This  work  will  depend,  of  course,  on 
the  state  of  the  weather.  Should  there  have 
been  no  rain,  and  the  ground  be  hard  and  dry, 
it  must  be  deferred  to  a  fitter  time,  as  also 
transplanting  into  the  borders  the  seedling 
biennials  and  perennials  which  were  sown  in 
the  spring. 

When  you  transplant  under  a  burning  sun, 
before  the  plant  can  recover,  the  sun  takes 
away  the  moisture,  and  the  plant  either  dies,  or 
is  so  long  recovering,  that  the  season  passes 
away  before  it  is  able  to  produce  its;flowers. 
In  case ,  you  should  be  unavoidably  obliged  to 
transplant  in  hot  weather,  shade  the  root  with 
a  garden  pot,  which  should  be  taken  off  at 
night,  that  the  plant  may  have  the  benefit  of  the 
dew.  When  a  plant  which  is  too  large  to  be 


150  CAUTIONS    IN    TRANSPLANTING.       [AUG. 

covered  by  a  pot  is  transplanted,  a  deep  basket 
will  answer  the  purpose ;  indeed,  small  baskets 
are  preferable  to  pots,  and  are  manufactured  for 
the  purpose  of  covering  plants,  at  the  establish- 
ment for  the  education  of  the  indigent  blind. 

I  am  now  going  to  sow  mignonette  in  pots, 
to  keep  in  a  cold  frame  through  the  winter. 
When  the  seedlings  come  up,  I  allow  only  four 
plants  to  each  pot,  and  give  them  as  much  air 
as  possible  during  the  winter.  After  they 
have  flowered  in  the  spring,  I  cut  them  down, 
and  turn  them  out  in  the  borders,  where  they 
make  good  plants,  and  flower  again  sooner  than 
the  spring-sown  seed.  I  am  also  busy  collect- 
ing plants  for  the  rock  work,  which  I  told  you 
of. v  Among  these,  saxifrages  are  what  I  am 
most  desirous  of  obtaining :  now  is  the  fit  time 
to  divide  them. 

My  garden  continues  to  be  very  gay ;  though 


FLOWERS    IN    BLOOM.  151 

the  first  blaze  has  passed  off.  I  have  in  flower 
three  sorts  of  Lobelia;  and,  by  the  by,  I  ought 
to  have  told  you  to  get  a  plant  of  each  in  the 
spring,  as  they  are  easily  propagated  by  divid- 
ing the  roots,  either  as  soon  as  they  have  flow- 
ered, or  in  the  spring :  some  of  mine,  in  a  turf 
border,  are  now  four  feet  high.  My  Salvia 
splendens,  (scarlet  sage,)  promises  to  be  very 
fine  shortly ;  and  the  Amaryllis  lutea  is  flower- 
ing very  well;  but  the  China  asters  are  at 
present  the  greatest  attraction  of  my  garden,  as 
the  dahlias  have  not  yet  opened  sufficiently  to 
shew  all  their  beauty.  I  have  many  things,  be- 
sides, among  the  herbaceous  plants ;  such  as 
Jlsckpias  tuberosa,  (or  orange  coloured  swallow- 
wort;)  different  varieties  of  Phlox  and  Eupatori- 
um;  and  three  sorts  ofLiatris,  (gay  feather,)  viz: 
spicata,  squarrosa,  and  scariosa.  The  gerani- 
ums, and  other  green-house  plants,  planted  out 


152  FLOWERS  IN  BLOOM.  [AUG. 

in  May,  are  flowering  well,  especially  four  va- 
rieties of  Chelone,  which  I  raised  last  year  from 
cuttings ;  and  am  now  going  to  strike  cuttings 
of  yellow  Gerandia  and  Orpine,  or  live-for-ever, 
to  keep  through  the  winter. 

I  have  written  a  longer  letter  than  usual 
to-day,  but  it  will  be  the  last  long  letter  you 
will  receive  from  me  on  gardening,  as  I  shall 
have,  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  but  few 
instructions  to  give. 

Ever  your  affectionate  friend, 

G. 


CARNATIONS.  153 


LETTER  IX. 

September. 

I  HAVE  already  said  so  much  on  the  cul- 
ture of  carnations,  that  I  fear  I  shall  tire  you ; 
yet  I  must  add,  that  if  you  have  potted  any  lay- 
ers, and  they  are  already  rooted,  they  should 
be  taken  out  of  the  frame,  and  a  small  quantity 
of  water  given  to  them  in  dry  weather.  I  have 
written  more  on  carnations  than  on  any  flower, 
perhaps  because  I  have  myself  raised  so  many 
showy,  (though  not  what  are  considered  valua- 
ble varieties,)  that  it  has  become  my  favourite 
flower:  besides,  I  find  the  seedlings  easily 
grown  in  borders.  They  flower  at  a  time  when 
the  blaze  of  hardy  annuals  and  roses  is  past, 
and  before  the  most  tender  flowers  begin  to 
blossom ;  added  to  this,  T  think  the  perfume  of 


154  PIPINGS  OP  PINKS.  [SEPT. 

the  carnation  nearly  as  delightful  as  that  of  the 
rose  or  the  violet;  the  plants  remain  a  long  time 
in  flower,  and  do  not  occupy  much  space. 

I  ought  to  have  told  you,  in  my  last  letter, 
to  transplant  the  pipings  of  pinks  when  they 
have  struck ;  this  is  easily  known,  because  they 
begin  to  shoot  up  as  soon  as  they  have  roots. 
I  should  not  think  they  will  be  much  hurt  from 
being  kept  under  the  glass,  if  they  have  been 
allowed  air  since  they  began  to  grow :  this  you 
must  not  fail  to  do  with  all  cuttings,  before  they 
are  transplanted  into  the  borders,  or  the  sud- 
den chill  occasioned  by  removing  them  at  once 
from  the  heat  of  the  glass,  added  to  the  dis- 
turbing of  their  roots,  Avould  seriously  injure 
tnem. 

If  you  wish  to  have  a  bed  of  pinks  next  year, 
prepare  one  now  of  light  mould,  rake  it  smooth, 
tread  it  down,  and  plant  the  pipings  in  rows, 


BOX  EDGINGS.  155 

five  or  six  inches  apart,  and  let  the  rows  be  at 
the  same  distance  from  each  other.  Next 
spring,  take  up  every  other  plant,  and  put 
them  where  they  may  be  required,  in  the 
borders. 

It  is  not  advisable  to  plant  pipings  at  once  in 
the  borders,  as  on  account  of  their  small  size,  it 
is  easier  to  water  a  bed  of  them,  than  to  look 
for  them  among  other  plants,  and  they  are 
therefore  better  attended  to  when  together. 

If  you  did  not  plant  box  edgings  in  the 
spring,  the  latter  end  of  the  present  month  will 
be  the  time  when  this  should  be  done ;  and 
any  edgings  that  have  grow^n  too  thick,  may  be 
divided.  Slip  the  box  plants,  (each  piece  hav- 
ing roots,)  and  plant  them  thick  enough  for  the 
shoots  to  touch  each  other,  so  as  to  form  an 
edging  close  enough  to  prevent  the  gravel  get- 


156  COLLECTING  SEEDS.  [SEPT. 

ting  into  the  borders.  I  have  already  told  you 
how  to  ensure  the  edges  being  straight. 

You  must  have  found  it  necessary  to  redou- 
ble your  attention  and  labour  last  month,  in 
order  to  keep  your  garden  neat ;  weeds  at  this 
season,  as  well  as  flowers,  grow  apace :  there 
must  also  be  added  to  the  usual  work  of  tying 
up,  rolling,  cutting  off  dead  flower  stems,  raking 
borders,  &LC.,  the  additional  trouble  of  clearing 
them  from  the  leaves  of  trees  which  may  grow 
near,  and  which,  if  left  on  the  beds,  give  them 
a  very  untidy  look. 

You  must  continue  to  collect  seeds,  and  dry 
them  as  I  before  directed.  Be  particular  in 
choosing  a  dry  day  for  gathering  them;  for 
seeds  are  apt  to  decay,  if  put  away  in  a  damp 
state;  from  carelessness  in  this  respect  on  the 
part  of  those  who  raise  seeds  for  sale,  great 
disappointment  accrues  to  the  purchaser.  Some 


PECULIARITIES  OF  THE  BALSAM.         157 

seeds  require  to  be  gathered  before  they  are 
perfectly  ripe ;  for  when  they  come  to  full  ma- 
turity, they  burst  their  pods  and  are  lost ;  for 
example,  the  balsam,  which  is  called  impatient, 
or  irritable,  from  the  seed  flying  out  when  the 
seed  vessel  is  touched. 

This  property  of  the  balsam  is  very  striking, 
and  is  well  worth  your  minute  observation ;  it 
is  one  of  the  many  and  admirable  means  which 
Providence  has  taken  for  the  dispersion  of 
seeds,  in  order  to  continue  the  propagation  of 
the  species.  You  will  observe  the  elastic  spring 
which  the  seed  vessel  gives  when  touched ;  so 
as  to  throw  the  seed  to  some  distance.  This 
property  is  more  remarkable  in  the  wild  Eng- 
lish balsam,  or  Noli  me  tangere  ;  and  still  more 
in  the  spurting  cucumber,  or  Elaterium. 

I  shall  not  digress  into  an  account  of  the 
different  modes  by  which  seeds  are  scattered : 


158  SEEDLING  STOCKS.  [SEPT. 

you  must  have  remarked  those  which  have 
downy  wings  attached  to  them,  as  those  of  the 
thistle,  which  float  in  the  air  for  miles ;  others 
are  carried  to  great  distances  by  birds,  &c. 

These  subjects  are  amusing,  nay  more  than 
merely  amusing,  they  serve  to  display  the  wis- 
dom of  Providence  in  the  creation ;  they  show 
how  great  must  He  be  who  ordained  and  go- 
verned even  these  minute  things ;  and  how  kind 
must  He  be  who  created  all  for  our  enjoyment 
and  use. 

I  desired  you  in  June,  to  sow  some  Bromp- 
ton  and  Ten-week  stocks :  such  plants  as  have 
shot  forth  half  a  dozen  leaves  may  be  potted, 
to  be  kept  through  the  winter  in  a  frame ;  a  few 
may  be  pricked  into  the  borders,  to  take  the 
chance  of  living  through  the  winter :  if  they  do 
live,  they  will  blow  finer  than  those  in  the  pots, 
though  not  so  early.  The  pots  must  be  well 


PREPARATION  OF  COMPOSTS.  159 

drained,  as  stocks  do  not  thrive  well  if  kept 
wet.  About  four  of  the  Ten-weeks  may  be 
put  into  a  large  sized  pot ;  but  the  Brompton 
stocks  should  be  potted  singly,  to  flower  finely. 

Like  all  other  plants,  they  must  be  watered 
and  shaded  till  the  roots  are  established,  and 
then  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  the  mig- 
nonette; allowing  air  whenever  the  weather 
will  permit,  or  they  will  grow  too  tall,  and  the 
lower  leaves  will  fall  off:  stocks  merely  require 
to  be  kept  from  frost  and  damp. 

If  you  intend  to  increase  the  size  of  the 
shrub  border,  you  ought  now  to  get  some  fresh 
turf,  and  put  it  in  a  heap ;  turn  it  over  occasion- 
ally, that  all  parts  may  be  in  turn  exposed  to 
the  frost,  which  will  cause  it  to  fall  to  pieces ; 
next  spring  it  will  be  fit  to  use.  Procure  also 
some  light  loam  for  potting,  or  making  new 
beds. 


160  EFFECTS  OF  A  RAINY  SEASON.       [SEPT. 

My  dahlias  are  now  in  full  bloom,  though  I 
cannot  say  they  are  as  fine  as  I  have  had  them 
in  some  seasons  ;  this  I  attribute  to  the  quantity 
of  rain  that  has  fallen  this  year :  it  was  the  same 
with  the  China  asters ;  they,  like  all  the  tender 
annuals,  grew  so  much  after  they  were  planted 
out,  that  they  became  too  large  and  coarse,  ex- 
pended their  strength  in  foliage,  and  flowered 
indifferently. 

Besides  many  of  the  plants  which  I  mention- 
ed in  my  last  as  being  in  flower,  I  have  now 
Phlox  pyramidalis,  Aster  amellus,  and  the  Ca- 
rolina lily:  these,  added  to  the  dahlias  and  a 
few  hardy  annuals  sown  late,  keep  up  the  re- 
putation of  my  garden  very  well.  Among  the 
most  delightful  flowers  in  bloom,  at  this  season, 
I  consider  the  Liatris  elegans  (gay  feather)  to 
hold  a  high  rank.  There  is  a  description  of 
violet,  the  Russian,  which  is  very  valuable,  since 


IMPROVED  CARNATION   CURB.  161 

it  flowers  during  many  of  the  summer  and 
autumn  months.  I  wish  we  could  obtain  it. 

I  have  lately  seen  a  new  method  for  prevent- 
ing the  pods  of  carnations  from  bursting,  which 
I  think  superiour  to  the  old  one :  it  consists  in 
cutting  off  both  ends  of  a  broad  bean,  and 
thrusting  out  the  contents:  the  skin  of  the 
bean,  which  is  remarkably  tough,  is  then  drawn 
over  the  pod  of  the  carnation;  there  it  dries, 
and  its  toughness  prevents  the  carnation  flower 
from  splitting  it.  This  plan  is  better  than  that 
of  the  card,  which  is  unsightly. 

We  have  turned  what  was  formerly  rather  an 
ugly  object  on  the  lawn,  into  an  additional  orna- 
ment to  the  garden.  You  must  remember  the 
cherry-tree,  under  which  we  have  so  often  sat 
and  played  together:  for  some  years  it  has 
been  dying,  and  the  gardener  wished  much  to 
cut  it  down.  We  resisted  this,  because  this 
tree  has  always  been  called  "the  children's 


162  AN  ORNAMENTAL  PIECE.  [SEPT. 

cherry-tree."  Last  year,  I  begged  permission  to 
make  a  border  round  it,  and  promised  my 
mother,  if  I  did  not  succeed  in  making  it  orna- 
mental before  the  end  of  the  present  autumn, 
that  we  would  no  longer  interfere  to  save  it 
from  being  rooted  up.  In  the  border  I  planted, 
against  the  tree,  variegated  and  evergreen  ivy, 
and  every  kind  of  creeper  that  I  could  procure: 
my  plan  succeeded  admirably;  all  have  surviv- 
ed, and  the  tree  is  more  than  half  covered  with 
a  luxuriant  foliage,  far  superiour  to  what  it  natu- 
rally should  possess.  The  multiflora  rose,  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  clematis,  cluster  flowering  gly- 
cine,  and  several  other  climbing  plants,  have 
successfully  decked  it  with  flowers.  The  Vir- 
ginian creeper, periploca,  and  ivy,  will  be  its  best 
ornaments.  I  have  also  increased  the  width 
of  the  border,  and  filled  it  with  varieties  of 
hearts-ease. 
Your  affectionate  friend,  G. 


DECLINE    OP   THE    SEASON.  163 


LETTER  X. 

October. 

I  AM  delighted  to  hear  that  you  found  my 
letters  short;  I  infer  from  it,  that  our  corres- 
pondence continues  to  be  interesting.  I 
have  now  so  few  general  instructions  to  give, 
that  I  must  confine  myself  to  finding  employ- 
ment for  you  during  the  few  weeks  that  you 
can  yet  work  in  the  garden.  I  shall  have 
scarcely  any  directions  to  give  you  for  Novem- 
ber and  December  ;  as,  during  these  two 
months,  I  amuse  myself  in-doors  with  books, 
writing,  and  my  other  occupations,  which  I  will 
not  take  up  your  time  in  relating,  lest  you 
should  abandon  your  garden  for  some  new% 
amusement  during  trie  last  month  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  work  in  it,  with  any  degree  of  pleasure. 


164  PLANTING   BULBS.  [OCT. 

I  am  now  busily  preparing  a  bed  for  my 
bulbs ;  this  is  a  matter  of  great  consequence ! 
If  gardening  teaches  you  neatness,  it  may  also 
teach  you  foresight ;  for  as  you  sow,  so  you 
must  reap  ;  and  if  you  do  not  provide  in  winter, 
your  garden  in  the  summer  will  be  barren. 
The  soil  I  use  for  the  bulbs  is  composed  of 
rich,  light  mould,  sand,  and  rotten  leaves.  I 
plant  with  a  round-ended  dibble,  the  hyacinths 
and  tulip  roots  in  rows  about  five  inches  deep, 
and  six  inches  apart ;  I  put  a  little  fine  sand  in 
each  hole  before  I  put  in  the  bulb,  over  which  I 
sprinkle  a  little  more,  and  then  cover  it  with 
between  three  and  four  inches  of  earth.  Cro- 
cuses and  snowdrops,  of  course,  require  to  be 
planted  closer  and  not  so  deep.  The  narcis- 
sus, I  find,  succeed  best  under  a t south  wall: 
they  should  be  planted  as  near  the  wall  as  pos- 
sible, as  the  roots  then  receive  less  wet ;  and 


BULBS    IN    POTS.  165 

may  therefore  be  left  in  the  ground,  where  they 
will  form  fine  patches.  I  have  some  planted  in 
this  manner,  which  appear  to  me  to  flower  finer 
every  year;  in  a  bed,  they  should  be  planted 
four  inches  apart,  and  three  or  four  deep. 

Bulbs  intended  to  flower  in  pots  should  be 
potted  in  good  soil,  such  as  I  have  described, 
and  placed  in  a  frame,  or  under  a  south  wall, 
and  then  covered  afoot  deep  with  mould:  this 
process  occasions  the  bulb  to  throw  out  roots 
before  the  leaves  begin  to  grow,  and  thus  there 
is  good  support  for  the  leaves  and  flowers ;  for 
it  is  from  the  roots  that  a  portion  of  the  nou- 
rishment is  supplied:  thus,  by  covering  the  bulb 
deeply  with  earth,  the  roots,  which  will  grow  at 
a  temperature  lower  than  the  leaves,  vegetate 
first.  This  is  the  mode  in  which  the  plant 
grows  in  its  natural  state ;  and  as  I  have  said 
before,  the  surest  method  of  succeeding  in 


166  BULBS   IN    POTS.  [OCT. 

growing  flowers  will  be,  as  much  as  possible,  to 
imitate  nature. 

The  custom  of  planting  bulbs  at  the  top  of 
the  pot,  and  then  putting  them  into  a  green- 
house, or  warm  room,  effectually  prevents  them 
from  flowering  well,  as  it  sets  the  leaves  and 
the  flower  growing  before  there  are  sufficient 
roots  to  afford  them  support.  When  the  leaves 
of  the  roots  which  have  been  buried  have 
grown  from  two  to  four  inches  above  the  pot, 
they  may  be  taken  from  the  mould  as  they  are 
wanted,  and  placed  in  a  green-house,  or  in  the 
window  of  a  warm  room,  to  flower.  On  taking 
the  pots  out  of  the  mould,  the  leaves  will  be 
found  of  a  sickly  yellow  colour. 

I  have  already  explained  that  the  absence  of 
light  is  the  cause  of  this ;  placing  them  at  a 
window  in  a  strong  light  will  soon  restore  them 
to  their  natural  colour.  This  process  of  burying 


MANAGEMENT    OF    BULBS.  167 

the  bulbs,  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  is  not 
much  known  to  our  gardeners ;  it  is,  however, 
the  manner  in  which  all  the  fine  forced  roots 
are  grown  by  the  London  nurserymen. 

I  have  told  you  that  most  of  the  bulbous- 
rooted  plants  are  natives  of  dry  climates,  and 
are  only  watered  by  the  spring  rains :  take  care, 
therefore,  that  your  bulbs  do  not  have  much  wa- 
ter till  they  begin  to  grow  strongly ;  and  select 
a  place  to  bury  them  in,  where  they  will  be 
sheltered  from  too  much  wet ;  though  a  small 
quantity  will  be  necessary,  when  they  begin  to 
graw  freely.  The  soil  they  are  covered  with 
should  be  light,  so  as  to  allow  the  rain  to  pass 
quickly  through.  While  they  are  in  flower, 
they  may  be  well  supplied  with  water.  I  told 
you  to  put  sand  round  each  root:  this  is  to 
form  a  drain,  because  water  is  not  retained  by 
sand ;  it  therefore  prevents  the  wet  from  lodg- 
ing round  the  roots,  or  in  its  coats. 


168  PLANTING    TULIPS.  [OCT. 

You  will  observe  that  a  tulip,  when  well 
grown,  has  a  very  hard  skin :  this  should  be 
carefully  taken  off  before  planting,  (so  as  not  to 
injure  the  rudiments  of  roots  which  you  will 
perceive  at  the  bottom;)  the  reason  why  this 
should  be  done,  is,  that  the  skin,  when  split  by 
the  frost,  forms  a  sort  of  cup  which  holds  water; 
hence  the  root,  being  held  as  it  were  in  a  basin 
of  water  before  it  begins  to  grow,  is  often  de- 
Itroyed  by  the  rot. 

Those  who  grow  narcissus  and  hyacinth  roots 
in  glasses,  should,  after  putting  them  in  the 
glasses,  place  them  in  a  cold  cellar,  to  make 
the  roots  shoot  at  least  three  inches  before  the 
leaves,  for  the  reason  I  have  already  given. 

About  the  middle  of  the  month,  anemonies 
intended  to  flower  early,  should  be  planted  in 
the  same  manner  as  I  formerly  directed  as  to 
ranunculuses,  which  may  also  be  planted  at  the 


ANEMONIES    AND    RANUNCULUSES.        169 

end  of  the  month,  or  in  the  beginning  of  No- 
vember, unless  the  soil  be  cold  and  wet;  in 
which  case,  it  is  better  to  wait  till  the  end  of 
February,  or  beginning  of  March. 

As  the  roots  of  ranunculuses  and  anemonies 
begin  to  swell  as  soon  as  they  are  put  into  the 
ground,  and  do  not  vegetate  for  some  time,  it 
will  be  necessary,  if  there  is  any  sign  of  frosty 
weather,  to  cover  the  ground  with  straw ;  and 
if  the  frost  be  very  severe,  a  mat  must  be* 
thrown  over  the  straw,  but  both  mat  and  straw 
ought  to  be  taken  off  as  soon  as  the  frost  is  gone. 

The  reason  why  this  covering  should  be  put 
on  is,  because  the  root  swells  from  the  addition 
of  the  water  which  it  has  soaked  up,  and  as 
water  freezes  much  more  readily  than  the 
juices  of  the  plant,  the  root  is  liable  to  be  in- 
jured by  the  frost ;  and  if  once  frozen  before 
vegetation  has  commenced,  it  decays. 
P 


170    PRESERVING  GREEN  HOUSE  PLANTS.  [OCT. 

If  the  cuttings  of  the  green-house  plants 
have  failed  in  striking,  you  ought  now  to  take  up 
the  old  plants,  pot  them,  and  place  them  in  a 
green-house,  or  cold  frame.  By  cold  frame,  I 
always  mean  one  placed  on  the  ground,  without 
warm  dung  or  tan ;  some  ashes  should  be  laid 
at  the  bottom  and  beaten  down  hard,  which,  in 
some  measure,  will  prevent  worms  from  getting 
into  the  pots.  This  I  think  the  best  manner  of 
preserving  all  sorts  of  Alpine  and  hardy  green- 
house plants  through  the  winter,  such  as  scarlet 
geraniums,  chrysanthemums,  aletriss,  stocks,  lo- 
belias, &c.  The  latter  sometimes  survive  the 
winter  in  the  open  ground ;  but,  as  a  very  hard 
or  wet  season  might  destroy  them,  a  few  roots 
ought  always  to  be  potted. 

If  the  green-house  or  frame  is  too  full  to 
admit  of  your  putting  the  old  plants  in  either, 
you  may  adopt,  for  the  geraniums,  a  plan  I  have 


GENERAL    DIRECTIONS.  171 

seen  practised  with  success,  which  is  to  strip 
off  the  leaves  and  roll  the  plants  up  in  a  piece 
of  matting,  and  keep  them  in  the  cellar  till  the 
spring,  when  they  may  be  potted  and  planted 
out  again :  they  will  require  to  be  cut  to  a  few 
shoots,  or  they  will  not  make  handsome  plants. 
The  different  species  of  geraniums  may  be 
increased  in  two  ways,  either  by  sowing  the 
seeds  or  parting  the  roots.  Where  the  first 
method  is  adopted,  the  seeds  should  be  sown 
in  the  autumn,  as  soon  as  they  have  become 
perfectly  ripened,  either  in  pots  or  a  shady 
border  in  the  garden,  where  the  mould  is  light 
and  fine.  As  soon  as  the  plants  have  acquired 
a  few  inches  in  growth,  they  should  be  pricked 
out  into  other  pots,  or  beds  of  similar  earth,  at 
the  distance  of  five  or  six  inches  in  the  latter 
case ;  but  where  this  cannot  be  done,  they  may 
be  permitted  to  remain  until  the  following 


172  GENERAL    DIRECTIONS.  [OCT 

spring,  and  then  be  put  out  into  other  pots  or 
borders,  where  they  are  to  continue,  being  oc- 
casionally watered  in  a  moderate  manner. 

In  cases  where  the  parting  of  the  roots  is 
practised,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  divide 
them  too  much. 

Continue  to  clear  the  borders  of  decayed 
annuals,  &c. ;  to  divide  and  transplant  herba- 
ceous plants,  taking  care  to  mark  all  roots  with 
sticks,  lest,  in  digging,  they  should  be  injured 
by  the  spade :  in  fact,  I  must  advise  you  to 
leave  no  work  of  this  kind  undone,  as  there  is 
always  more  general  business  to  do  in  the 
spring  than  at  this  time  of  year.  You  may  also 
cut  back  such  flowering  shrubs  as  have  grown 
too  large,  as  soon  as  they  lose  their  leaves ;  put 
sticks  to  those  that  require  it,  taking  care 
to  suit  the  sticks  to  the  size  of  the  shrub,  so 
that  they  may  be  seen  as  little  as  possible. 


PRUNING   FLOWERING   SHRUBS.  173 

I  think  I  have  before  warned  you  to  take  care, 
in  pruning  shrubs,  to  distinguish  between  those 
that  form. -their  blossom  buds,  at  the  end  of  the 
shoots  which  are  to  produce  the  flowers  in  the 
spring,  and  those  which  produce  their  flowers 
from  the  shoots,  or  any  part  of  the  stem.  The 
lilac  is  an  example  of  the  former:  the  buds  which 
are  to  blow  in  the  spring,  are  made  in  the  autumn, 
at  the  tips  of  the  shoots ;  and  if  you  take,  in 
September,  a  full  round  bud  of  the  lilac,  you 
will  see  the  little  embryo  flowrer  and  leaves  form- 
ed ready  for  the  next  year.  The  rose  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  latter  class :  here  the  flowers  are 
formed  on  the  new  spring  shoots  on  any  part 
of  the  stem,  and  it  is  therefore  best  to  prune 
away,  in  the  autumn,  all  the  old  shoots  of  the 
preceding  year,  down  to  two  or  three  buds, 
from  which  the  new  shoots  arise  to  produce 
flowers  in  the  following  summer. 


174  EVER   BLOOMING   ROSE.  [OCT. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  month,  you  may 
begin  to  transplant  the  following  shrubs : — Al- 
thea  frutex,  Daphne  mezereon,  lilacs,  syringas, 
honeysuckles,  roses,  jasmines,  &,c.  But  let  this 
be  done  with  care ;  and  do  not,  to  save  a  little 
trouble  in  digging,  make  the  holes  too  small  for 
the  roots,  which  should  all  be  carefully  preserv- 
ed, (unless  the  plant  grows  too  luxuriantly,)  and 
well  spread  out.  If,  however,  the  shrub  grows 
too  freely,  then  cut  the  roots  short,  this  will 
check  the  growth  for  a  year  or  two.  Next  see 
that  you  place  the  stem  upright  in  the  hole; 
and  after  having  thrown  in  a  little  earth,  shake 
the  tree,  that  the  mould  may  settle  about  the 
roots,  and  tread  it  over  to  keep  the  plant 
steady. 

When  planting  roses,  endeavour  to  obtain 
suckers  of  one  called  the  Chinese  ever  blooming 
rose  ;  it  will  help  admirably  to  cover  the  paling, 


CAUTIONS   IN    WATERING.  175 

as  it  is  a  trailing  rose.  I  have  planted  it  against 
a  shed,  which  I  have  covered  with  ivy  and  other 
creepers : ,  it  grows  very  fast,  and  flowers  very 
early.  Mine  has  been  planted  three  years; 
and,  last  year,  it  made  one  shoot,  or  sucker, 
which  was  at  least  fifteen  feet  in  length ;  this 
branched  out  on  both  sides,  and,  early  in  June, 
was  covered  with  blossoms :  this  year,  also,  it 
has  made  a  great  many  very  strong  suckers. 

You  must  water  the  carnations,  and  all  plants 
that  are  in  the  cold  frame,  during  the  winter ; 
but  this  must  be  done  with  great  care  and  dis- 
cretion. I  have  before  observed,  plants  are 
more  likely  to  die  from  damp  and  water  soak- 
ing in  the  pots,  than  from  cold.  They  ought 
now  to  have  the  glasses  put  on  the  frames  eve- 
ry night ;  but,  during  the  day,  they  should  have 
plenty  of  air. 

The  frosts  have  not  yet  injured  the  dahlias ; 


176  ROMAN    ARBOUR.  [OCT. 

they  are  now  almost  the  only  ornament  of  the 
garden:  the  stocks,  mignonette,  and  some  JEno- 
theras,  still  exist,  but  they  have  nearly  lost  both 
smell  and  colour.  Some  green-house  plants, 
which  I  turned  out  under  a  wall,  are  still  lin- 
gering in  flower  :  Calceolaria  rugosa;  night- 
scented  stocks,  and  Plumbago  capensis,  (for- 
merly considered  a  hot-house  plant,)  are  among 
the  number. 

You  will  receive,  with  this  letter,  the  last 
basket  of  plants  that  I  shall  send  this  year ;  and 
with  it  a  drawing  of  a  Roman  arbour,  which  was 
made  from  one  discovered  in  the  ruins  of  Pom- 
peii; and  which,  in  our  love  for  classical 
ornament,  we  mean,  with  the  assistance  of  my 
brother,  to  imitate  at  the  end  of  our  garden. 
I  must  say,  however,  the  seats  which  the  Ro- 
mans used  for  reclining  on,  do  not  appear  to  be 
either  pleasant  or  convenient. 


OCTOBER. 


A   ROMAN   ARBOUR. 


178  TURNING  UP    BORDERS.  [NOV. 


LETTER   XL 

November. 

MY  instructions  for  the  present  month  will 
occupy  but  a  short  space ;  though,  perhaps,  you 
will  employ  some  time  in  fulfilling  them.  I 
know  but  little  to  be  done  during  this  month, 
except  digging  the  borders,  and  laying  them  up 
rough  and  hollow,  for  the  winter.  Before  be- 
ginning to  do  this,  pull  up  all  the  annuals  ;  then 
trim  round  such  roots  as  have  grown  too  large, 
as  your  plants  should  never  be  allowed  to  get 
too  big  for  the  size  of  your  garden. 

Prune  such  shrubs  as  require  it ;  this  you  will 
not  do  to  azaleas  and  rhododendrons,  nor  to 
any  shrubs  that  have  already  formed  their  bloom 
buds  for  the  next  year.  Go  round,  and  put 
markers  and  sticks  to  such  roots  as  require 


TURNING  UP  BORDERS.  179 

them,  and  take  away  the  sticks  of  those  from 
which  you  have  cut  away  the  flower  stems.  If 
the  sticks  be  still  sound,  clean  them,  tie  them 
up  in  bundles,  and  put  them  away  with  the 
tools ;  this  will  save  some  labour  next  year,  as 
there  will  be  fewer  to  cut.  Take  off  suckers 
where  they  are  not  wanted,  and  give  them 
away,  or  .plant  them  deep  in  the  ground  all  to- 
gether till  the  spring;  this,  in  gardeners'  lan- 
guage, is  called  "laying  them  by  the  heels:" 
perhaps  you  may  then  find  some  use  for  them. 
After  having  done  all  this,  turn  over  the  bor- 
ders with  a  small  spade,  or  a  fork,  if  you  have 
one,  unless  the  soil  be  very  light.  The  dead 
leaves  may  be  dug  in,  and  buried  deep  in  the 
borders,  as  they  are  of  great  use  in  manuring 
and  lightening  the  soil ;  but  if  the  soil  be  much 
exhausted  or  worn  out,  from  having  been  long 
cultivated  without  any  manure,  you  will  do  well 


180  PLANTING   BULBS.  [NOV 

to  dig  in  some  very  rotten  dung,  or  an  addi- 
tional quantity  of  decayed  leaves;  though,  in 
general,  it  is  best  not  to  add  much  manure ;  the 
-  flower  borders  are  not  to  be  raked  after  this 
digging,  but  left  rough  all  the  winter,  that  the 
frosts  may  break  the  ground  and  make  it  crum- 
ble. 

The  tulips  and  ranunculus  roots  should  be 
planted  about  the  middle  of  the  month:  the 
hyacinths,  I  presume,  were  put  in  the  ground 
in  October.  The  London  tulip  fanciers  usually 
plant  their  bulbs  on  or  about  the  Lord  Mayor's 
day.  You  will  say  this  is  rather  a  cockney  time 
to  fix  on.  Remember  to  protect  them  as  well 
as  the  anemonies,  hyacinths,  and  ranunculuses, 
from  heavy  rains,  as  well  as  from  frosts ;  espe- 
cially from  frosts  coming  after  much  rain,  when 
the  roots  are  much  saturated  with  wet.  Should 
the  winter  be  very  severe,  you  must  put  a  little 
straw  over  them 


CAUTIONS   AGAINST   WET.  181 

You  ought  now  to  collect  a  heap  of  leaves  to 
rot  into  mould  for  next  year ;  and  your  turf  and 
loam  heaps  should  be  turned  and  broken  occa- 
sionally. The  gravel  walks  should  be  swept 
and  rolled  every  week  during  the  winter,  even 
when  there  is  no  work  to  be  done  in  the  gar- 
den: and  indeed,  I  think  you  will  find  this  no 
bad  exercise  in  cold  weather. 

Do  not  forget  to  pay  great  attention  to  the 
beds  of  carnations;  they  must  <be  protected 
from  both  frost  and  wet.  And,  I  may  here 
mention  again,  that  the  great  object  with  re- 
spect to  most  of  our  garden  plants,  like  carna- 
tions, &LC.,  is  to  guard  against  too  much  wet ; 
this  is  far  more  injurious  than  frost:  many  of 
the  plants  in  our  gardens  are  killed  by  the 
effects  of  wet  more  than  by  the  frost. 

This  observation  applies  particularly  to  Alpine 
plants,  or  those  that  come  from  mountainous 


182  ALPINE   PLANTS. 

countries,  which  are  covered  all  through  the 
winter  with  snow.  You  will  be  surprised  to 
find  that  a  plant  which,  in  its  native  country, 
lives  well  through  an  eight  months'  winter,  un- 
der a  coat  of  snow,  dies  and  dwindles  away 
during  our  far  milder  climate. 

I  must  try  to  explain  this,  as  well  as  I  can ; 
and  if  I  succeed,  it  will  be  of  great  advantage  in 
two  ways :  first,  it  will  give  you  a  habit  of 
thinking,  and  of  looking  into  the  reason  of 
things,  and  will  teach  you  not  to  remain  in  silly 
wonder  at  what  you  cannot  understand;  se- 
condly, it  will  give  you  the  best  chance  of  grow- 
ing Alpines,  which  are  my  favourite  plants ;  so, 
indeed,  they  must  be  with  all  who  have  small 
gardens;  as  they  are  generally  dwarfs,  and 
very  beautiful ;  moreover,  nearly  all  of  them  are 
amongst  our  earliest  harbingers  of  spring. 

I  must,  however,  make  you  a  bit  of  a  philoso- 


PLANTS    PROTECTED    BY    SNOW/         183 

\->her,  to  enable  you  to  understand  me.  Some 
bodies  retain  heat  longer  than  others,  and  snow 
is  one  of  these  bodies :  different  substances  are 
said  to  be  good  or  bad  conducters  of  heat,  in 
proportion  to  their  capacity  of  keeping  or  losing 
it.  Air  is  a  body,  marble  is  a  body,  and  water 
is  a  body;  but  when  marble  and  water  are 
surrounded  by  air,  you  find  the  air  is  warm,  in 
comparison  with  water  and  marble. 

Now,  if  these  bodies  retained  heat  in  the 
same  degree  as  the  air  which  surrounds  them, 
their  temperature  would  be  the  same ;  yet  you 
find  the  water  and  marble  colder  than  the  air; 
that  is,  the  marble  and  the  w^ater  part  writh 
some  of  the  heat  to  the  air,  which  therefore  has 
more  of  it,  and  is  consequently  warmer:  nowr, 
snow  does  not  part  with  heat  quickly ;  that  is, 
it  does  not  become  cold  quickly,  which  is  the 
same  thing ;  and  when  it  has  formed  a  covering 


184  CONTRAST    OF    CLIMATES.  [NOV. 

to  the  earth,  and  the  external  air  is  colder  than 
the  snow,  the  snow  retains,  in  a  great  degree, 
its  heat,  and  prevents  the  external  air  from 
communicating  its  cold  to  the  earth  beneath; 
so  that  plants  under  snow  are  thus,  in  a  great 
measure,  prevented  from  experiencing  the  in- 
tense cold  of  the  external  air ;  in  other  words, 
they  are  not  colder  than  the  snow  itself,  whilst, 
however,  the  air  is  far  colder. 

In  this  country  we  have  often  intense  cold, 
and  no  thick  coating  of  snow  to  cover  the  plants, 
which  are  consequently  left  exposed,  and  are 
killed  by  it.  In  addition,  the  rains  of  our  au- 
tumns and  winters  soak  into  the  ground,  and 
into  the  heart  of  the  plant ;  and  as  the  principle 
or  power  of  life  is  very  weak  during  the  winter, 
the  plant  being  in  a  dormant  state,  cannot  resist 
the  effect  of  the  water,  which  rots  it,  beginning 
first  with  the  leaves,  which  die  on  the  approach 


AN    ALPINE    SPRING.  185 

of  winter ;  and  the  disease,  or  rot,  is  continued 
from  the  dead  to  the  living  part. 

Again,  in  the  Alps,  the  plant,  under  the  snow, 
is  prevented  from  growing  till  the  snow  melts 
and  the  warm  winds  come;  but  in  our  cli- 
mate, it  happens  often  in  the  winter,  and  in  the 
early  part  of  spring,  that  a  few  fine  days  will 
cause  the  plant  to  grow  before  its  time ;  then 
frosts  return,  check,  and  sometimes  even  kill 
the  opening  buds,  which  were  reserved  for  the 
great  effort  of  nature  to  be  made  in  spring;  the 
consequence  is,  that  the  plant  either  dies,  or 
lingers  in  a  poor  miserable  state  of  existence, 
scarcely  able  to  make  leaves  again  to  keep  it 
alive,  far  less  to  throw  up  flowers.  Yet  the 
same  plant,  in  its  native  Alps,  secure  under  its 
snow  mantle,  reposes  throughout  the  cold,  till 
warmed  by  the  sun,  which  at  once  melts  the 
snow  and  calls  it  into  life  and  bloom  in  a  few 
Q 


186  THE   BRITISH    SPRING.  [NOV 

days,  without  the  fear  of  those  chilling  chances 
which  our  uncertain  climate  dooms  it  to  expe- 
rience. 

Without  being  a  great  traveller,  I  have  seen 
the  effect  of  an  Alpine  spring.  In  May,  all  is 
one  mass  of  white  snow,  silence,  and  desolation. 
The  power  of  the  sun,  with  the  coming  year,  at 
once  turns  the  white  to  green,  and  in  a  few 
days,  whole  rocks,  whole  districts,  I  may  say, 
are  covered  with  white  and  yellow  saxifrages, 
different  sorts  of  violets,  primulas,  and  blue 
gentians;  and  the  little  trailing  strawberry 
clings  to  the  sides  of  endless  ranges  of  towering 
rocks :  this  change,  effected  in  so  short  a  time, 
appears  more  like  enchantment  than  the  slowr 
and  uncertain  return  of  spring  to  which  we  are 
accustomed. 

I  do  not  write  all  this  to  put  you  out  of  hu- 
mour with  our  spring :  it  has,  like  that  of  the 


MANAGEMENT  O^  ALPINE  PLANTS.   187 

Alps,  its  beauties :  the  fine  sunny  days  coming 
at  intervals,  a  soft  air,  after  the  drying  March 
winds,  the  cheerfulness  of  the  birds,  and  the 
struggling  plants  venturing  forth,  (often  too 
boldly,)  are  perhaps  as  pleasing,  from  the  vari- 
ety and  the  uncertainty,  as  the  sudden  and 
certain  change  I  have  attempted  to  describe. 

You  will  see  by  what  I  have  said,  that,  if  you 
grow  Alpine  plants,  you  must  imitate,  as  far  as 
possible,  an  Alpine  climate ;  and,  as  you  have 
no  certainty  of  allowing  six  months  of  snowy 
jackets  for  the  natives  of  snowclad  hills,  you 
must  discover  a  substitute  for  it :  this  will  best 
be  found  in  a  frame,  in  which  the  most  tender 
of  these  plants  may  be  preserved  during  the 
winter.  Care  must  be  taken  that  the  pots  be 
well  drained ;  and  a  mat  should  be  thrown  over 
the  frames  during  very  frosty  weather. 

The  more  hardy  Alpine  plants,  which  are  left 

- 


188  DAHLIAS.  [NOV. 

out  all  the  winter,  should  be  planted  high  above 
the  ground,  on  rock  work,  that  the  wet  may 
drain  off,  and  these,  as  well  as  such  as  are  in 
pots,  should  not  have  a  southern  aspect,  lest 
they  be  too  early  and  treacherously  coaxed 
into  vegetation.  This  treatment  is  absolutely 
necessary^  to  preserve  all  the  primula  tribe, 
among  which  the  auricula,  (the  most  beautiful 
of  florists'  flowers,)  is  classed. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  the  dahlias:  I  am 
abdut  to  take  up  mine,  their  leaves  being  de- 
stroyed by  the  frost  three  nights  ago.  I  find 
I  am  more  fortunate  than  some  of  my  friends, 
whose  dahlias  were  touched  by  the  frost  in  the 
middle  of  last  month.  I  shall  now  take  them, 
cut  off  the  stems  close  to  the  roots,  and  put 
them  away  in  a  dry  place,  secure  from  cold  and 
damp  till  the  spring. 

The  same  must  be  done  by  the  roots  of  mar- 

J 


ARGEMONE   GRANDIFLORA.      Large-lowered  Mexican 


190  DAHLIAS.  [NOV. 

vel  of  Peru  and  Commelina  cczlestis.  If,  how- 
ever, the  soil  be  dry,  the  roots  of  dahlias  may 
be  left  in  the  ground  all  the  winter,  taking  care 
to  put  a  shovel  full  of  rotten  leaves,  or  very  rotten 
dung,  over  the  crown  of  each  root.  This  is  not, 
however,  quite  safe,  as  the  frost  or  wet  some- 
times destroys  them. 

The  few  plants  that  continue  to  flower  are 
very  shabby,  though  (till  my  dahlias  were  de- 
stroyed) I  could  gather  a  handsome  nosegay 
for  the  library  twice  a  week ;  I  have  now  only 
an  Jlrgemone  grandiflora,  Dianthus  superbus, 
the  white  tobacco,  double  white  chamomile, 
yellow  fumaria,  a  few  asters,  and  some  stocks, 
to  boast  of;  and  the  flowers  of  these  are  so 
pale,  and  the  plants  have  grown  so  tall  and 
straggling,  that  they  are  scarcely  ornamental: 
yet,  as  I  feel  that  till  the  chrysanthemums  blow, 
they  are  all  I  am  to  have  this  year,  I  cannot 
make  up  my  mind  to  pull  them  up. 


CHRYSANTHEMUMS.  191 

I  must  now  conclude,  in  order  that  we  may 
both  profit  by  the  few  tolerably  dry  days  that 
we  may  have  this  month,  to  put  our  gardens  in 
proper  order  against  the  winter. 

Ever  yours  sincerely, 
G 


192  VEGETABLE    PHYSIOLOGY.  [DEC. 


LETTER    XII. 

December  3. 

I  HAVE  really  so  little  to  add  to  my  directions 
for  the  last  month,  on  the  subject  of  the  garden, 
that,  as  we  are  to  meet  soon,  I  should  not  have 
written  again,  had  you  not  especially  desired 
that  I  should  send  one  more  letter  on  the  sub- 
ject, to  add  to  the  eleven  I  have  already  sent. 
I  am  well  pleased  by  the  care  you  have  taken 
of  these,  and  I  hope  they  will  be  useful  as  a  gar- 
dening manual.  I  recommend,  however,  that 
you  should,  from  time  to  time,  add  your  own 
observations,  and  the  results  of  your  experience 
to  them.  If  this  be  done  with  care,  you  will 
soon  obtain  a  valuable  stock  of  information. 

My  principal  object  has  been  to  call  your  at- 
tention, generally,  to  the  subject  of  gardening 


VEGETABLE   PHYSIOLOGY.  193 

and  botany ;  and  I  shall  have,  succeeded  in  my 
object,  if  I  induce  you  to  think  on  the  subject; 
you  must,  however,  seek  elsewhere  for  more 
detailed  instruction. 

If  you  should  pay  some  attention  to  vegeta- 
ble physiology,  I  think  you  would  derive  much 
amusement  from  merely  seeing  and  under- 
standing the  reason  of  the  different  operations 
that  are  daily  taking  place  in  a  garden. 

Vegetable  physiology  is  not,  like  botany,  a 
mere  classification  of  plants,  and  determination 
of  their  names :  it  is  the  science  which  makes 
one  acquainted  with  their  internal  and  external 
structure,  their  nature,  habits,  properties,  man- 
ner of  growing,  and  the  functions,  or  duties,  of 
their  different  organs :  we  learn  from  it,  how  the 
hard  and  apparently  dry  seed,  -on  being  placed 
in  the  ground,  begins  to  germinate,  or  bud 
forth;  and  the  reason  why  this  process  takes 
13  R 


194  VEGETABLE    PHYSIOLOGY.  [DEO. 

place  under  ground  only,  when  the  seed  is  almost 
entirely  deprived  of  light  and  air,  which  are, 
you  already  know,  essentially  necessary  to  the 
health  of  that  portion  of  the  plant  which  is 
above  ground.  You  will  trace  the  seed  from 
the  first  period  of  its  existence,  in  the  bosom  of 
the  flower,  through  its  various  stages,  till  it 
becomes  an  individual,  separate  plant. 

After  becoming  acquainted  with  the  natural 
organs  of  plants,  you  will  see  how  the  sap,  (ori- 
ginally merely  water,  containing  different  crude 
materials  dissolved  in  it,)  absorbed  by  the  roots, 
the  extremities  of  which,  for  that  purpose, 
resemble  little  sponges,  rises,  every  spring, 
through  the  wood  of  the  trees,  and  is  conveyed 
to  the  bud,  which  it  developes,  and  to  the 
leaves,  in  which  the  evaporation  of  the  useless 
particles  takes  place,  through  pores  furnished 
lor  that  purpose.  You  will  follow  it  in  its 


VEGETABLE   PHYSIOLOGY.  195 

descent  through  the  bark,  depositing,  in  its 
progress,  all  the  nourishing  particles  it  contains, 
and  thereby  increasing  the  tree  in  size  and 
height. 

The  examination  of  the  flower,  the  different 
modes  in  which  the  fruit  is  formed,  and  the  pe- 
culiar secretions  of  plants,  (such  as  oils,,  gums, 
resin,  milk,  &c.,)  cannot,  I  think,  fail  to  interest. 

Vegetable  physiology  is  most  pleasing,  per- 
haps, to  those  acquainted  in  some  degree  with 
the  physiology  of  animals;  because  they  are 
able  to  compare  the  organs,  growth,  &,c.,  of 
both  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms.  It  must 
be  regarded  as  an  important  science,  if  we 
merely  consider  the  direct  benefits  we  derive 
from  some  plants  in  nourishment  for  ourselves, 
and  many  of  the  animals  necessary  to  our 
existence;  and  relief  from  sickness,  by  the 
medicinal  properties  of  others. 


196        GARDENING   AS   AN   AMUSEMENT. 

Again,  a  close  investigation  of  the  structure, 
habits,  and  diseases  of  plants,  will  not  only  ena- 
ble us  to  distinguish  such  as  are  suited  to  our 
climate,  but,  being  intimately  connected  with 
agriculture,  will  teach  us  how  to  administer  to 
the  well  being  of  those  we  already  cultivate, 
and  thereby  improve  them,  as  well  as  to  sup- 
ply, artificially,  those  advantages  which  they 
possess,  naturally,  in  their  own  countries. 

I  have  several  times,  I  think,  in  my  letters, 
alluded  to  the  usefulness  of  gardening,  as  an 
amusement,  in  inculcating  a  love  of  industry, 
order,  and  neatness :  but  I  trust  you  will  forgive 
my  repeating  what  I  remember  to  have  said 
before,  that  I  never  wished  to  persuade  you 
that  it  is  the  most  important  of  occupations. 

I  could  quote  what  many  great,  and,  what  is 
more,  many  good  men  have  said  with  respect 
to  gardening,  as  an  amusement  fitted  for  good 


GARDENING   AS   AN   AMUSEMENT.         197 

men.  I  shall,  when  I  see  you,  relate  some  sto- 
ries of  the  love  of  great  men  for  the  pursuit 
itself.  One  of  the  wisest  that  ever  lived  in 
England, — I  mean  Lord  Bacon, — pursued  gar 
dening  with  eagerness  and  delight,  and  in  its 
pursuit  made  some  of  the  experiments,  and 
acquired  that  habit  of  examination,  which  has 
made  him  celebrated  in  every  age. 

We  have  not  yet,  in  our  country,  paid  that 
attention  to  gardening,  generally,  which  the 
beauty  of  flowers  and  the  benefits  resulting  to 
the  cultivator  demand.  But  our  Horticultural 
Societies,  by  their  exhibitions,  are  doing  much 
to  awaken  public  attention,  and  it  cannot  be  a 
long  time  before  the  pleasures  of  the  garden 
and  green-house  will  be  fully  appreciated  by 
our  citizens. 

You  tell  me,  you  continue  so  fond  of  the 
garden,  that  you  will  brave  the  cold,  during 


198         OCCUPATIONS   FOR   THE   MONTH.      [DEC. 

December,  to  work  in  it ;  but  there  is  little  to 
be  done  if  you  have  finished  digging,  besides 
keeping  it  swept  and  rolled.  The  frame  plants, 
however,  must  be  attended  to ;  they  must  have 
air,  when  the  weather  is  mild,  and  be  protected 
with  mats  from  the  frosts.  I  have  before  said, 
that,  though  the  frost  is  to  be  kept  from  the 
frames,  the  plants  must  not  be  allowed  to  grow, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few,  to  which  it  is  natu- 
ral to  vegetate  at  this  season :  among  these  is 
the  Calceolaria.  When  you  find  any  plant 
beginning  to  grow,  or  draw,  as  it  is  termed,  you 
may  be  certain  that  you  are  treating  it  too 
tenderly,  and  must  alter  your  management, 
allowing  it,  by  degrees,  more  air.  I  have 
already  explained,  in  a  preceding  letter,  the 
reason  of  this. 

I  therefore  now  take  my  leave  of  the  subject 
on  which  we  have  been  corresponding,  regret- 


CONCLUSION.  199 

ting  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  give  more 
information,  yet  pleased  to  find  that  I  have  been 
of  some  use  to  you. 

Consider  me  ever  as     - 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

G. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Aconite,  Winter  or  Yellow  59 
-flEnothera  Lindlyana     .      79 
Alpine  plants  181— 186.— Di- 
rections for  their  manage- 
ment       86 

Alpine  Spring,  contrasted  with 
the  spring  in  America    185 
Amaryllis  lutea   .     .     .     151 
American  shrubs  18.  21. — Di- 
rections respecting     25. 54 
Anchusa  Italica  .     .     .     118 
Anchusa  sempervirens       118 
Anemone  hortensis,  or  Scar- 
let Anemone    ...      89 
Anemone  pulsatilla,  or  Pasque 

flower 89 

Anemonies  49.  89. — Time  for 

planting  168. — Instructions 

.  respecting    .     .      169.  180 


Page 

Annuals,    general    directions 

for      .      32,  33.  53.  62.  91 

Annuals,  hardy        43.  53.  91. 

Annuals,  half-hardy       53.  91 

Annuals,  tender       69.  89.  99 

Arbour  for  a  Garden      .      20 

Argemone     Grandiflora,     or 

large     flowered     Mexican 

Poppy 190 

Arrangement    of    plants    in 

beds 35 

Artisans  mostly  florists      133 
Asclepias  tuberosa    .     .     151 
Aster  amellus      .     .     .     160 
Auriculas,  sowing  seed  of  42 
Awning,  a  cheap,  for  bulbous 
plants  in  flower     .     .      68 
Azaleas  25. — Time  of  bloom- 
ing 110 


202 


INDEX. 


B. 


Page 


Bacon,  Lord,  fond  of  garden- 
ing    ....    7   .     197 
Balm  of  Gilead,  cuttings  of  70 
"Beds,  forming  of  22,  23.— To 
be  turned  up  for  the  win- 
ter       179 

—See  Borders. 

Biennials    ....   55.  102 
Bignonia  radicans,  or  Trum- 
pet flower    ....      19 
Borders,  forming  of  18.  25. — 
Edgings    for    27.— To    be 
turned  up    ....     179 
Botanist,  explanation  of  the 
term  138. — Its  misuse    139 
Botany,  how  far  essential  to 
the  Gardener    .     .     .     140 
Box  edgings    .     .     .42.  155 
Brompton  stocks        111.  158 
Bulbous  roots  raised  from  seed 
147.— Soil  proper  for  165. 
— Natural  Economy  of  97. 
— Time  for  putting  them  in- 
to the  ground  164.  180.— 
Instructions  97.  165,  166.— 
When  to  be  taken  up  96. 


Page 

127.— Subsequent  manage- 
ment of  them   ...      96 
Bulbous  roots  in  glasses    168 
Bulbous  roots  raised  in  pots  165 
Bulbous  roots,  autumnal   102 

C. 

Calceolaria  Rugosa      81.  176 

Calceolaria,  Yellow      .     106 

Californian  Escholtzia  .      79 

Calycanthus  precox  .     .       19 

Campanula  Carpatica   .     118 

Canada  Columbine  .     .      65 

Carnations  raised  from  seed 

71.  154.— Varieties  123.— 

Descriptive    catalogue    of, 

made  from  the  petals  126. 

Management  of  124.  161. 

181. — Cuttings    and    slips 

100.— Layers  120. 125. 144. 

— Cautions  against  wet  1*81 . 

—The  Tree  variety  .    132 

Carolina  Lily  ....     160 

Central  bed,  designs  for       22 

Cheiranthus  tristis,  or  Night 

Stock .82 

Chinese  Day  Lily,  see  Heme- 
rocallis  Caerulea. 


INDEX. 


203 


Page 

Chinese  Lychnis    ...    82 
Christmas  Rose     ...    46 
Chrysanthemums,     propaga- 
tion of  " 103 

Clarkia  Pulchella     .     .      79 
Clematis  Florida       .     .      32 
Climates,  contrast  of    .     184 
Cloth  of  gold  Crocus      .      47 
Colchicums,  frequently  identi- 
fied with  autumnal  crocuses 
102 

Cold  Frame  ....  170 
Commelina  Ccelestis  75.  190 
Composts  to  be  prepared  159 
Convolvulus  major  .  .  32 
Corchorus  Japonica  .  .  33 

Creepers 32 

Crocuses  47. — Instructions  for 

planting 164 

Crocuses,  Autumnal  102. — To 
be  distinguished  from  Col- 
chicums   102 

Cuttings,  various  instructions 

respecting  80.  86.  99.  101. 

126.  146 

D. 

Dahlias,  mode  of  propagating, 


Page 

75.— Growth    160.    175.— 

When  to  be  taken  up     188 

Dead  leaves,  useful  as  manure, 

25.  179.  181. 

Deciduous  plants  .  .  32 
Dianthus  superbus  118.  190 
Dividing  roots  of  herbaceous 

plants 148 

Draining  borders  25. — Plants 

in  pots 61 

Dutch  style  of  laying  out  a 

Garden 16 

E. 

Edgings  for  borders  27. 41 . 155 
Erinus  Lychnidea  .  .  -  84 
Escholtzia  Californiea  .  79 
Ever-blooming  Rose  .  174 
Evergreens  ....  30 

F. 
Ferraria   Tigridia,    or  Tiger 

flower 148 

Florist,  meaning  of  the  term, 
as  distinguished  from  the 
epithets  "  Gardener"  and 
"Botanist".  ...  134 
Flowering  shrubs,  manage- 
ment of  .  39 


204 


INDEX. 


Page 

Florists'  Flowers  .  42. 137 
Fumaria  Nobilis  .  .  .  110 
Fumaria,  Yellow  .  .  190 

G. 

Garden,  instructions  for  the 
formation  of  a  15.  35. — 
"Work  in  for  January  15; 
February  35;  March  47; 
April  58;  May  75;  June 
92 ;  July  115 ;  August  132 ; 
September  153 ;  October 
163;  November  178;  De- 
cember   192 

Garden  and  hot-house  nose- 
gays contrasted     .     .      29 
Gardener,  the,   distinguished 
from  the  Florist  and  Bota- 
nist     134 

Gardening,  pleasure  afforded 
by  it  29;  Promotive  of  a 
love  of  industry,  neatness, 

&c 116.  196 

Geraniums      ....     171 

Geum  coccineum     .     .     110 

Gravel  walks,  making  of  28. 

— To  be  kept  clear  of  weeds 

109 


Page 

Greenhouse  plants  80.  88. 
125. — Directions  for  pre- 
serving them  during  the 

winter 171 

H. 

Hearts-ease     ....      66 
Helleborus  Niger,  or  Christ- 
mas rose      ....      46 
Hemerocallis  Cserulea,  or  Chi- 
nese Day  Lily  .     .     .     118 
Herbaceous  plants  30.  60. — 
Dividing  their  roots      148 
Hyacinth,  the  Musk      .      89 
Hyacinths  49.  67.     See  Bul- 
bous roots. 

Hyacinths,  management  of  in 
glasses  168. — Time  for  put- 
ting them  into  the  ground, 
180 
I. 

Implements  for  gardening  38 
Indian  Pinks,  laying  of  145 
Iris  Germanica  .  .  .  110 
Iris  Persica  .  .  .  ."  65 
J. 

Jasmine 19 

Jasminum  Revolutum    .    32 


INDEX. 


205 


K. 


Kalmia 


Page 


31 


L. 


Layers  of  carnations  120. 125. 
144 ;  and  of  other  plants 

145 

Laying  out  a  Garden     15.  22 

Leaves,  decayed,   their  uses 

as  manure    .     25.  180.  181 

Liatris  Scariosa        .     .     151 

Liatris  Spicata     .     .     .     151 

Liatris  Squarrosa     .     .     151 

Light  essential  to  plants     69 

Lilac,  its  mode  of  flowering 

178 

Lindley's  ^Enothera     .      79 
Lithospermum  Orientale  110 

Lobelia 151 

Lobelia,  Blue       ...      88 

Lobelia  Siphilitica,    or  Blue 

American  Lobelia      .     120 

Lobelia  splendens    .     .     108 

Lungwort 65 

Lychnis   Coronaria,    or   Chi- 
nese Lychnis    ...      82 

M. 

Markers,  or  sticks,  to  denote 
the  places    of    plants,    of 


Page 

which  the  stems  die  away 

in  autumn  .     .     .  172.  178 

Marvel  of  Peru  ...      188 

Miffy,  the  gardeners'  term  for 

flowers  that  die   suddenly 

86 

Mignonette,  preserved  through 

the  winter    ....     150 

Mimulus  rivularis     .     .     108 

Moneywort      ....     108 

Multiflora  Rose    ...     162 

Muscari  Moschatum,  or  Musk 

hyacinth      ....       89 

N. 

Narcissus,  best  situation  for 

164. — Flowering  in  glasses 

168 

Neatness  essential  in  garden- 
ing     116.  156 

Night  Stock    ....      85 

Nosegays  from  the  garden  and 

the  hot-house,  contrasted  29 

Nummularia,  or  Moneywort 

108 

0. 

Ornamental  piece  for  a  gar- 
den 161 


206 


INDEX. 


Page 

Orobus    Vernus,     or    Bitter 

Vetch 65 

P. 

Papaver  Orientale     .     .     110 
Pasque  flower       .     *     .      89 
Penstemon      ....      82 
Perennials,  sowing  55. — Ma- 
nagement of  the  plants  102 ; 
their  places  to  be  marked  in 
winter  ....    173.  179 
Periploca  Graeca     ...     33 
Persian  Iris     ....       65 
Phlox,  various  sorts  of  .     151 
Phlox  Amoena      ...     118 
Phlox  Ovata    ....     110 
Phlox  Pyramidalis    .     .     160 
Phlox  Stolonifera     .     .     118 
Petunia,  or  White  Tobacco  81 
Pinks,  to  make  pipings  of  99 
154 

Planting  out  seedlings  .      61 
Plants  distinguished  by  their 
several    species    30. — Pro- 
tected in  winter  by  snow 
183 

Pleasures  afforded  by  the  Gar- 
den     .      29.  115.  116.  196 
Plumbago  Capensis       .     176 


Page 

Polyanthus  seed,  when  to  be 

sown 42 

Precautions  respecting  the  si- 
tuations chosen    for  large 

shrubs 38 

Pruning  ....  40.  173 
Pulling  up  weeds  .  .  92 
Pulmonaria,  or  Lungwort  65 
Pyrus  Japonica  ...  32 

R. 

Ranunculuses,    management 

of  51. — Cautions  relative  to 

putting  them  in  the  ground 

169.  180 

Rhododendrons  25.  33.  110.— 

Caution  in  pruning  them 

173 

Rock  plants                  66.  150 
Rose,  the  Christmas  46;  the 
Ever-blooming      .     .     174 
Roses,  Standard,  how  to  ob- 
tain     128 

Rubus  Arcticus  .  .  .  Ill 
Russian  violet  .  .  .  160 
Rustic  Flower  Basket  .  106 

S. 

Salvia  splendens  .  .  151 
Sanguinaria  Canadensis  65 


INDEX. 


207 


Page 

Seeds,   directions  for  sowing 
42 ;  for  gathering  and  pre- 
serving ....  125.  156 
Shrubs,    distinguishing    cha- 
racteristics of  ...       30 
Slipperwort     ....       81 
Slips  of  herbaceous  plants  148 
Snow,  a  preserver  of  plants 
183 

Snowdrops      .     .     .     .     164 

Soil  proper  for  different  plants 

25 

Sowing  flower  seeds  42.  53. 
.      55.  61.  90 

Spiderwort,  varieties  of     118 
Spigelia  Marylandica    .     118 
Spring  in  the  Alpine   conn- 
tries  185 

Standard  Rose-trees      .     128 

Stocks,  when  to  be  sown  111. 

— Subsequent  management 

159 

Stocks,  Night-scented  .     176 
Succession  bed  of  spring  flow- 
ers       47 

Suckers   to  be  removed  and 

preserved          .     .     .     179 

Sweet-williams  .     .     .    145 


Page 

T. 

Tender  annuals  .       69.   118 
Ten-week  stocks      .     .     158 
Tiger  flower   ....     148 
Tobacco,  see  Petunia. 
Tools  for  Gardening     .      38 
Tradescantia  Virginiana,   or 
Spiderwort  ....     118 
Transplanting  in  autumn  172 
Tree  carnation     .     .     .     132 
Trumpet  flower  ...       19 
Tulips,  instructions  respecting 
168. — Time  for  putting  into 
the  ground  180.     See  Bul- 
bous Roots. 

Turf,  laying  of  ...  41 
Turf  for  Shrub  Border  25. 159 

V. 

Vegetable  physiology  130. 193 
Verbena  .....  71 
Verbena  Aubletia  .  .  82 
Verbena  Melihdris  .  .  82 
Vetch,  Bitter,  see  Orobus  Ver- 

nus.  • 

Violets  Autumnal  .  .  160 
Virginian  Creeper  .  .  33 

U. 
Uvularia  89 


208 


INDEX. 


W. 


Page 


Watering  plants  during  au- 
tumn and  winter  .     .     175 
Wet,  cautions  against  181. 187 
Winterberry  tree      .     .       33 


Page 

Winter  Hellebore,  or  Yellow 

Aconite 59 

Y. 

Yellow  Aconite   ...      59 
Yellow  Gerandia     .     .     152 


& 


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